


Slowly Falling - A Garvez Coffee Shop AU

by 3_is_a_magic_number



Series: The Life and Times of Penelope Garcia and Luke Alvez [1]
Category: Criminal Minds (US TV), Garvez - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, F/M, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Light Angst, Mild Smut, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-11
Updated: 2020-07-11
Packaged: 2021-03-04 23:41:40
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 35,805
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25204885
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/3_is_a_magic_number/pseuds/3_is_a_magic_number
Summary: Luke catches Penelope's eye at her coffee shop.
Relationships: Garvez - Relationship, Luke Alvez & Penelope Garcia, Luke Alvez/Penelope Garcia
Series: The Life and Times of Penelope Garcia and Luke Alvez [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1825984
Comments: 5
Kudos: 62





	Slowly Falling - A Garvez Coffee Shop AU

**Author's Note:**

> AU, set around 2011. Luke just moved to Virginia and is working with the Fugitive Task Force. Penelope works at a cafe, owned by her family. It happens to be in Luke's new neighborhood.  
> There's some smut, towards the bottom, I'll put broken lines around it so that you can avoid it, if you wish. It's really not much.  
> Once again, I tell you, I'm not a writer. I'm sure you'll see it in my formatting, my writing and my love of commas. Please stick with it, it's a good, fluffy, Garvez read, IMHO.  
> I hope you enjoy!

I’m cleaning tables and straightening chairs on the back end of our early morning rush. Through the window I see a super hot shirtless guy with an adorable dog. He ties the dog up at the sign and bends down to talk to them. He stands, puts a shirt on and comes into the café. The jingle of the bell snaps me out of my drooling and I return to the task at hand. By the time he’s ordered and gotten his drink, I’m working on the tables closest to the door. He thanks the barista and cashier again before turning to leave, he walks past me and gives me the most gorgeous smile and a head nod before leaving.

I don’t see Mr. Tall Dark and Handsome for another week and a half. The next time he comes in I’m working behind the register, Mario called out again. “Hi, welcome to Emilio’s, what can I get for you?”

“I’ll have a large coffee, black, please.” He says with a smile. That smile is everything!

I compose myself and ask “Will that be all?

“Yes.”

“$3.36, please. Will that be for here or to go?”

“To go, please.” Tall Dark and Handsome says, pulling out a $5 and giving it to me, I make change and hand it over.

“Name?” I ask, poised and ready to write on the cup.

“Luke” He says, tossing the $1.64 in the tip jar.

“Thank you, Luke your order will be up and ready to the right. Have a good day.” 

“Thanks, you too.” He says, moving over to wait for his coffee. As he did before he throws out another thank you and smiles at me before leaving.

Saturday afternoon, two bags full of fresh Farmer’s Market goodness in hands. As I’m walking up to the door Luke stands and says “Here, let me get that for you.” He holds the door open for me with that gorgeous smile in place. I thank him and he asks “do you need any help?”

“I’ve got it, thanks.” I put the week’s supplies away and head back out to grab the flowers. “What an adorable dog.” I gush at the cute little face looking at me from lounging half under the table. “Can I?” I ask, putting my hand out.

“Sure, her name’s Roxy” Luke says. I crouch down and put my hand out for Roxy to sniff before petting her. Roxy stands and comes closer to me, relishing the attention.

“You’re such a pretty girl, aren’t you, Roxy?” I gush. I look up and Luke is smiling big at me. “Sorry,” I say, I can feel a blush overtaking my face. “I should stop spoiling your dog.” I say, standing back up.

“It’s fine.” Luke waves me off. “She’s used to being spoiled.”

I nod. “Thanks for letting me have some time with her. I should probably finish unloading my car.” I say, pointing at the corner.

“I can help you.” Luke leaps up.

“You don’t have to, you’re not here to work” I counter. “I just have to grab the flowers and then I’m done.”

“I insist.” He says, he bends down to talk to Roxy, she sits and watches as he motions for me to lead the way. We walk over to the car and I say. “I’m Penelope, by the way.”

“Nice to meet you, Penelope, I’m Luke.”

“I know, I was working the register the last time you came in, I’m good with names and faces. It’s this car right here.” I say, pointing to Esther. Luke raises an eyebrow at me and I reach in, pulling a bunch of flowers out, handing them to Luke. I pull out the other bunch and hold on to them. We turn and start walking back toward the café. “So, how did you discover Emilio’s, do you live in the area?”

“Yeah, Roxy and I just moved in about 3 weeks ago. We live in the brownstones around the corner on Chestnut street.”

“Oh, well, welcome to the neighborhood. I think it’s a pretty nice one.”

“Yeah? We like it so far.” Luke says, opening the door for us, motioning for me to go ahead of him. I lead him behind the counter and through the swinging door to the kitchen. Walking to the counter, I turn and say. “You can set those anywhere.” Luke follows me over and stands right next to me setting the flowers down. “Thanks again.” I say, turning to him. “Your next coffee’s on the house.” I tell him.

“Your welcome, and it’s fine. I wouldn’t want to get you in trouble.”

“I own the place.”

“Oh, sorry. I just assumed…” he says trailing off, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Emilio was my dad.” I say as a phone I don’t recognize starts to ring. Luke pulls his phone out and looks at the caller i.d., cursing under his breath, before swiping the screen, bringing it to his ear and says. “Alvez.” He listens and nods and says. “I can be there in forty-five minutes. Wait for me, do not go in alone. Okay?” He’s quiet again before saying more forcefully. “Wait for me.” Luke tries to wipe the worry from his face and says “Sorry, I have to go. Work. It was nice meeting you, Penelope.”

“You too, hope everything works out.”

“Me to.” Luke mumbles walking towards the swinging door.

“Thanks again.” I yell after him, as he disappears.

Whatever that super intense phone call was all about made Luke disappear for a little over two weeks. Not that I’m paying that much attention or anything. Luke comes in around lunchtime on a Tuesday, sporting a beard. I didn’t know it was possible for him to look sexier. He’s waiting for his coffee as I walk through the double doors.

“Luke, is that you?” I ask, squinting at him a bit.

“Yeah. Hey, Penelope. Sorry I had to run so abruptly before.”

“No worries.” I wave him off. “I hardly recognized you, this is new.” I say, indicating his beard.

“Yeah, haven’t been home to shave yet.” He says, ducking his head.

“I like it, looks good on you.” I say, blushing. Penelope Grace Garcia, you need to stop flirting with this man, he has a girlfriend if the hot young lady walking Roxy around the neighborhood is any indication.

“You think so?’ He asks, scratching at the side of his beard.

“Luke.” The barista calls, Luke smiles at me and steps up to grab his coffee, giving her a thank you.

I narrow my eyes at Luke and ask. “Did you pay for that coffee?”

“Yeah, why?” He asks in confusion.

“Because I told you your next coffee was on the house.”

“Helping you carry those flowers really wasn’t a big deal. You really don’t have to.”

“I said I would and I will. I’ll get you eventually, Luke.” I say.

“Alright then.” He says, chuckling. “Next time!” he says smiling, he raises his coffee cup at me. “I’m gonna head out. I’ve been out on assignment for a couple weeks. I’m gonna go spend some time with Roxy. I’ll see you Penelope.” He says.

I can only look at him in confusion and say a distracted, “yeah, see you.”

“Thanks again for the coffee.” He says heading for the door. I wonder what tall, dark, _mysterious_ and handsome is into. Inventory takes twice as long, I’m too distracted thinking about what kind of job he could have that would take him away for a couple weeks. Armed Forces? Sales? A private investigator? An actor, shooting on location? I finally decide to give up on inventory today and pick it up tomorrow. I grab a rag and wipe down some tables instead, while my mind puzzles through the mystery that is Luke.

Thursday morning, Luke’s standing in the long, morning caffeine line when we spot each other. I give him a wave and he smiles at me. He’s wearing a button down tucked into jeans. He’s still sporting that beard, albeit a bit tidier and trimmed then the last time I saw him. He finally makes it to the front of the line and his smile widens. “Morning Penelope!” He says.

“Hi, Luke. Large black coffee on the house.” I say, writing his name on the side.

“And add as small double shot caramel mocha, please.” Luke says, holding out a ten dollar bill to me.

“Keep it.” I say, waving the money away.

“No, I agreed that I would have a free coffee, not one for my partner too.”

“Nope, not taking your money, put it away.” I say.

Luke puts his tongue inside his cheek and chuckles, before putting the $10 in the tip jar and walks to the right to collect his coffees. I gape after him for a few seconds until I hear someone say. “Can I please have……”

The next day, Friday morning Luke comes in a little later, dressed more casually with an open button down with a t-shirt underneath. It’s during the straggler time which means I’m wiping down and straightening tables when he comes in. “Morning, Penelope.” He calls to me, with a smile, before stepping up to the register to order. I continue what I’m doing until he’s done ordering, putting his change in the tip jar as usual. He walks over to me and I say, “Good morning, Luke. How are you today?” Leaning on the back of one of the chairs I just pushed in.

“I’m doing alright, heading into work a little later, hoping for a day of just paperwork.” He says crossing his fingers.

“What do you do?” I ask, my curiosity getting the best of me.

“I ah,” he starts, rubbing the back of his neck. “I ah, work in law enforcement.” I look at him, trying to tell if he’s being honest. I see that he’s telling the truth, but not the whole truth. I’ll let it slide, he’s just a regular at my coffee shop, I don’t need to know his life story. He must be able to read the initial distrustful look on my face because he quickly follows up by saying. “It’s more complicated than that, but I really do work in law enforcement. I know you have no reason to believe that I’m not some weird, shady, secretive guy, but please.” He says.

“Luke.” The barista calls his name. He looks at me one last time before ducking his head and walking over to pick up his coffee. He thanks the staff and heads out the door, with his head still hung. After a long internal debate, I put the rag down and follow him out the door.

I call his name and he stops walking, I walk over to him and put my hand on his arm and say to him, “I believe you, I’m usually pretty good at reading people.” He beams at me.

“Oh, good.” He says shifting from foot to foot, ducking his head and getting nervous “a lot of people are kind of done with me when I can’t tell them exactly what I do for a living.”

“It seems like it’s something super intense, judging from that phone call and being gone for weeks at a time.”

“Yeah, it can be.” He says, staring into space.

“Hey, if you ever want to talk, I know I’m just the pushy woman from the corner café, but I’m more than willing to listen.”

“Thanks, that means a lot.” He says, smile back in place.

“Auntie Penelope!” I hear being yelled. I look and see Henry waving and running up to me, I put my arms out to engulf him in a hug, when he gets close enough. “Mom has the day off work, so we stopped by to have a hot chocolate and a muffin before we go play soccer.” Henry says excitedly, looking up at me.

“Well that sounds like an awesome way to spend the day. I’m happy you guys came by to see me.” I say, pulling him in for another hug. Luke is watching us with a smile on his face. JJ walks up at a more leisurely pace.

“Hi Penelope.” JJ says leaning in and giving me a hug. When she pulls back, she looks over to Luke, still standing there. “Hi, I don’t think we’ve met, I’m JJ.” She says, continuing to look at him skeptically, pulling Henry in front of her.

“Oh, sorry. JJ, this is my friend Luke,” I say with a wink, directed at him. “He lives in the neighborhood and has the sweetest dog ever.”

“Nice to meet you.” Luke says, holding his hand out to JJ.

JJ shakes it and says. “This is Henry, nice to meet you.”

“Well, I’ll let you two get on with your exciting day off. It was nice meeting you both.” Luke says, looking between JJ and Henry. He turns to me, puts his hand on my arm and says “I guess I’ll let you get back to the shop. I should head in to work. I’ll be by again soon.” He smiles at me, squeezing my arm before letting go. He waves at us and I watch him walk across the street, getting into a black SUV. 

I’m broken out of my admiration by JJ asking, “so, what’s going on between you two?”

“Nothing.” I quickly answer looking at her. “Where’s Henry?” I ask, looking around.

“I already sent him ahead into the shop. I know there’s something going on and I’m going to find out.” She says, smiling at me, we walk into Emilio’s together.

It’s almost a week before I see Luke again. Thursday night, 15 minutes before closing, he walks in, looking weary. “Hey, Luke, what can I get for you?” I ask.

“Hey, ah, Penelope.” He says before looking at the menu behind me. “Can I have a chamomile tea?”

“For here or to go?”

“To go, for here, uh, yeah, for here.”

“Okay.” I say, turning around. He takes a seat and puts his head in his hands. I close down the register and make us both a cup of tea before heading over to the table. I set both the cups down and take a seat across from him. I sit there looking at him for a minute, wondering if he’s fallen asleep, before reaching across the table, and touching his arm. He jumps and looks around.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you. You okay?” I ask.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” He sits up straight and schools his expression.

“I don’t think you are.” I say, to him. “It’s okay, you can talk to me, if you want.”

“Just a bad day, well, bad week.” He says with a slight smile. “A case I was working on went sideways. Someone my partner thought he could trust, ended up double crossing him. It was a huge blow to our case. Sorry, you probably don’t want to hear all this.”

“I asked, of course I want to hear.” I assure, touching his arm. “What’ll you do now?”

He blows out a breath and says, “luckily our whole case hasn’t been compromised, we’ll just have to find a new angle, it’ll take longer.” He picks up his tea with his free hand and takes a sip. “So, how was your week?” he asks with a closed lip smile.

“Good! My godson came by to visit, so that was amazing!” I say, sitting back and beaming, “and I went out for happy hour with some girlfriends.”

“Sounds like fun. How old’s your godson?” Luke asks, before drinking more tea.

I pick my cup up, holding it in both hands in front of me. “He’s 3, Henry, you met him last Friday.”

“I remember. Wow, aunt and godmother. Is JJ your sister?”

“No, we’re friends. She wouldn’t mind me sharing this, but she was a part of the grief support group I run, we’ve known each other for about 5 years.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t know.” Luke says, ducking his head.

“Exactly, you didn’t know. It’s fine, I’ve gotten much better at talking about it.”

“Who did you lose?” Luke asks quietly.

“My mother Barbara and my father Emilio were killed by a drunk driver when I was 18.”

“I’m sorry.” Luke says, “I guess that’s where the name of this place came from.”

“Yeah, my Pop opened this place when I was really little, He loved it. I grew up here. When they died, I kind of went off the rails and got into some trouble. We almost lost this place, that’s what snapped me out of it. I knew we had to keep their legacy alive.” I say looking around the shop.

“Who’s we? Do you have siblings?”

“Four brothers, Carlos is 5 years younger than me, Eddie is 5 years older, Manny is 3 years older and Raphie is 6 months older.” I say, hiding my smirk behind my mug. Luke’s eyes grow big.

“Pardon my asking, but how is that possible?” Luke asks.

“They’re my stepbrothers.” I say, smiling at him. “My mother married their dad when I was 6.”

“Ah that makes sense.”

“So, how about you, Luke? Any siblings?”

“No, I’m an only child. Wow, that had to be an adjustment, going from being an only child to having 4 brothers, I couldn’t imagine.”

“It took some adjustment” I say, nodding with a smile. “You grow up around here?”

“I’m from the East Coast, the Bronx, mostly. My dad was in the Army, we did a little bit of living overseas, but we always came home to the Bronx. My Grandma and my mother are still out there, I try to visit as much as I can.”

“How did you end up in Virginia?” I ask, drinking the rest of my cooled tea.

“I uh.” Luke says, rubbing the back of his neck.

“You don’t have to answer.” I assure, noticing his discomfort.

“No, it’s fine. You’ve shared so much with me. I, uh, I came out here for work. I was recruited for the job I have now. My partner and I served together in the Army, I’m sure he’s the reason they recruited me.” 

“I bet I have a topic you won’t mind talking about, tell me about that sweet Roxy.”

“My girl Roxy.” He says breaking into a wide smile. “She’s my best friend, she’s gotten me through a lot.” There, his smile fades and he stares in the distance, ducks his head, and starts to play with his now empty mug. “When I got out of the Army 2 years ago, I wasn’t in a good place. I had seen unthinkable things during my tours. I went between fits of rage and being numb.” He pauses, shakes himself and continues. “My cousin’s dog had puppies and my mom took one, hoping that she would become her companion. Instead Roxy and I bonded instantly, I think she could see that I needed someone. Someone who wouldn’t judge me for the rage filled, untrusting, closed off man I had become. She just loved me.” Luke says sniffling. “Pretty silly right, getting emotional over an animal.” He chuckles nervously.

“Not at all. She is a pretty special dog, I could tell that from the few minutes I spent with her. I can see why you love her so much.” I say reaching out to squeeze his arm, leaving my hand to rest there.

He stares at my hand on his arm and I start to wonder if I’m making him uncomfortable with my casual touches. I slowly start to pull my hand back and his other hand reaches out, laying over the hand on his arm. We both look up at each other.

“I should probably get home to Roxy. I’ve been gone for almost a week. Thanks for the tea and the talk, I feel much better.” He says, removing his hand from mine. 

“I’m glad.” I say, with a smile, giving his arm one last squeeze before pulling back. We both begin to stand. He picks up both of our mugs and sets them in the empty bussing tray. “I guess I should get this place shut down and head home too. Too bad I don’t have a Roxy waiting at home for me.” I smile.

“I can help, then I’ll walk you to your car,” he says checking his watch. “Is it usually this quiet, this time of evening?” Luke asks, pushing in his chair. I walk over to the door, turn the sign to closed and lock it. I grab the cups from the bus bin and head towards the swinging doors, leading to the kitchen.

“I just need to wash these two mugs. You don’t have to walk me to my car, it’s only like 6:45, I’ll be fine.” I smile waving him off. He follows me to the kitchen.

“I insist.” He says with a smile.

“Well, I guess if you insist.” I say, smiling over my shoulder at him as I soap up the mugs.

“So, you do all your baking in house?” He asks, looking around at my stocked kitchen.

“Yeah, I’m here ridiculously early some mornings.” I laugh, rinsing our mugs and setting them in the dish drain.

“I’ll have to have something besides coffee the next time.” He says.

“You should.” I say drying my hands and walking back to him. “I’ve been told, I’m an awesome baker.” I smile at him. He smiles back, putting his tongue in his cheek. I grab my purse and we walk to the front door. “I need you to step outside, while I set the security system.” I say, unlocking the door and holding it open for him. I set the system and join him outside.

“I’m sorry I kept you past closing time.” Luke says immediately.

“It’s not a big deal.” I shrug.

“I should have just gone home.” He says, ducking his head.

“I’m really glad you didn’t, I had a good time talking to you tonight. I didn’t have plans.” I say, locking up from the outside, smiling over my shoulder at him.

“Thanks.” He says, “I’ll try to bring Roxy by tomorrow to see you.” He says as we start to walk to my car.

“I would love that,” I say to him. We smile at each other before crossing the street. We’ve reached my car and Luke touches my elbow saying, “Thank you for everything, Penelope, have a good night.” He drops his hand.

“You’re welcome, have a good night, Luke.” I open my car door and Luke stands there, watching as I settle myself down, throwing my purse in the passenger’s seat. Once settled he closes the door behind me. I buckle up and start the engine and he backs up and waves to me. I give a final wave before pulling out and driving away.

The next day, I’m opening the coffee shop when Luke comes jogging by with Roxy. Oh sweet Jesus, he’s shirtless! He smiles at me from afar and comes to a stop. “Hi Luke, you’re out early.”

“Good Morning, Penelope. Yeah, I couldn’t sleep.”

Jordan waves and slips past us, going into the café.

“I’m sorry. Anything I can help with?” I ask

“No, it’s pretty typical. But, thank you. I should let you open up and I’ll finish my jog. I’ll be by to get some coffee in a bit.”

“Yeah, I’ll see you. Have a good run.” I reach down to pat Roxy on the head. Luke waves and continues on his shirtless run. I watch his toned back, admiring the outline of his butt in those basketball shorts until he turns the corner, before heading inside.

He does stop by for coffee in about an hour. I’m so busy that we don’t have much time to talk.

“I’ll bring Rox by to see you later.” He says, heading out the door.

The next day, I’m on my weekly Farmer’s Market run. I’ve just left the flower stand and am balancing a flower bundle in each arm when I notice a dog that looks just like Roxy sitting in front of me wagging their tail. “You were supposed to wait for me, girl.” I hear from a distance away. I look up and Luke is standing in front of me smiling, with a leash in his hand.

“I was wondering why she took off, she’s usually more well behaved than that.” He says, clipping her leash on.

“I guess she just couldn’t wait. Could you sweet girl?” I ask Roxy, I look back at Luke and ask, “What are you doing here?” Smiling at the pair.

“I’ve been hearing about how great this Farmers Market is, I was around and up on a Saturday morning, so I thought we’d check it out. I’m sorry I never brought her by yesterday, I was at work until late.”

“No worries, about yesterday. And you’ve heard right, this market is the best, I’m here every weekend stocking up for the café.” I say, holding the flower bundles up.

“Do you want some help with those?” Luke asks, signaling to the flowers.

“I got ‘em, I’m gonna just head to my car and put them in. I’ll be right back.” I walk to my car, and set the flowers in the backseat, grabbing my reusable bags before heading back over to Luke and Roxy. I crouch down to hug and pet Roxy. “Sorry I couldn’t properly say hello to you. How are you?” Roxy starts to lick my face. “That good huh?” I give Roxy one more squeeze before putting one hand on the ground to brace for getting up, Luke extends his hand to me and I look at him in confusion.

“Here, I’ll help you up.” He says wiggling his fingers.

I take my hand from the ground and put it in his, saying. “Yeah, sure, thanks.” Once righted he doesn’t immediately let go of my hand.

“Would you like some company?” he asks, ducking his head. He must spot that he’s still holding my hand. He drops it and mumbles, “sorry.”

I smile at him. “It’s fine. Yeah, company would be nice.” We start to walk through the market. “So, what are you looking for today?”

“I don’t know, I figured I’d get some veggies, fruit, eggs, maybe check out the meat. Roxy’s on a raw food diet, I try to feed her the best I can find. You?”

“That’s so cool. Veggies, fruit, eggs, milk and cream, I already got the flowers. I try to get most of the supplies I need for the café here, what I can’t find here, I try to source locally or at the very least ethically, since you know, we don’t grow coffee in Virginia. Oooh, that booth there has the best produce.” I say steering us over to it.

“Hi Penelope”

“Hi Mary, how are you today?” I ask, giving Mary a side hug.

“Well, you know, I woke to see another day, can’t complain.” She shrugs. “Here’s your usual stuff.” She says pulling a fruit and veggie filled box from under the table, I take the items and pack them into my bag. “Let me know if you see something else you like. Ya hear?”

“Will do Mary, thanks so much.” Looks like Luke found a few items while I was talking to Mary. I smile at him as I pass him on my way to the blueberries. Moments later, we’re both standing in front of Mary with our arms full.

“What did I tell you? This is the best, isn’t it?” I nudge him with my elbow.

“Yeah, it is.” He says, with a smile.

“Who’s this handsome young man? Your boyfriend, Penelope?” Mary asks, looking between the 2 of us. We’ve both set our items down and Mary is bagging up Luke’s produce.

“No, this is my friend Luke. He’s getting to be a regular at Emilio’s.”

“Hm,” She says, “I’m sure the coffee got him in the door, but you keep him coming back.” She finishes with a wink. I look down, knowing that I have to be bright red, right now. “That’ll be $23, dear.” Luke hands some cash over and gets change back. “Make sure you treat her right. Penelope’s had some bad guys in her life, didn’t realize how special she was. You hear me, son?”

“I do.” Luke says, looking at me. “And I will.” He says looking back at Mary. “Thank you.”

Mary writes down the extra items I’ve gotten and I pack them in my bag, leaving it on the table while I say my goodbyes. “Thank you so much, Mary. I’ll see you next week.”

“Oh, I don’t know if I’ll be here next week, my grandson Malcolm will probably be here. I’m going to Atlantic City with the girls.”

“Well you have a good time, but don’t have too good of a time.” I laugh. I lean in and give her another hug and say. “Take care.”

“Nice to meet you.” Luke says from beside me. I’m ready to grab my bag only to see that it’s not there. I look around and see that Luke is holding it as he’s turning to walk away.

“I can take that now.” I say to Luke, motioning to my bag.

“I got it, it’s fine. Where to next?” We walk around the Market for the next 45 minutes getting everything we need. Luke refuses to let me carry any of the bags, the compromise we finally reach is that I hold on to Roxy’s leash. I’m munching on a giant cookie as we leave the last booth.

“Do you want some?” I ask Luke.

“It does look good, but I don’t have any more hands.” He laughs, holding up all our bags. I stop at the edge of the parking lot and I hold the cookie up to him and he takes a big bite.

“Thank you.” He says, around a mouthful.

“No problem.” I say, starting to walk again. We walk to my car and he puts all my wares in.

“Thanks for showing me around and introducing me to everyone. I had a good time.”

“I did too. Funny Roxy found me.” I look down at her and realize I’m still holding her leash, I hand it over and continue. “I’m sorry about what Mary said to you. She’s known our family so long, she sometimes acts like our grandma too.”

“I understand. I know exactly how Grandmas can be. No worries.”

“I guess I should get going, get this stuff out of the sun and to the shop. I’ll see you around.” I say, before opening my car door.

“Roxy and I will be by the shop a little later, as long as nothing comes up. See you, Penelope.”

I nod in acknowledgement and climb in, Luke shuts my car door and waves.

Raphie is at the shop doing accounting work when I get back. I put the food away and we chat in my office for a while. We walk out to the front and say our goodbyes. While hugging Raphie, I notice Luke sitting at one of the tables outside. I smile at him, but he just turns his eyes back to his book, looking angry. “There’s someone I want you to meet.” I say to Raphie, walking arm and arm out the door.

“Hey, Luke.” I say, trying to get his attention. He takes a deep breath and looks up at me with what looks like anger in his eyes. “Is this a bad time?” I ask.

“It’s fine.” He says, sounding more snappish than I’ve ever heard and at least trying to tone down his scowl.

“This is my brother Raphie, Raphie this is my friend Luke.” And just like that, Luke’s face returns to the friendly, kind face I’m used to.

“Nice to meet you, man.” Luke says, standing and extending his hand.

Rhaphie stands there looking Luke up and down. I swat him on the arm and say. “Be nice.” He huffs and shakes Luke’s hand.

“yeah, nice to meet you too.” Raphie says to Luke. “Look, sis, I gotta go, Ivonne is in a play tonight, I need to get home to drive her to her final rehearsal. I’ll see you.” He says, starting to walk to his car.

“Text me and let me know the play schedule, I’ll go see it one evening.” I call after him.

“Will do.” He yells back.

I turn to Luke, roll my eyes and say. “I’m sorry about him being rude. He’s really overprotective, he takes being a big brother very seriously. Those 6 months really went to his head.”

Luke chuckles and waves me off, “It’s fine.” He sits back in his seat. “Want to join me?” he asks motioning to the other seat at the table.

“Yeah, we can chat for a while and I can visit with Roxy for a while before I get to work.”

“Sorry, I don’t mean to keep you.”

“I just need to take care of those flowers soon.” I snap and say, “You know what? It just dawned on me that I can just work on them out here. If that’s okay.”

“it’s more than okay.” 

“Be right back.” I smile, going in the shop to get the flowers and scissors. We spend a couple of hours sitting at an outdoor table talking, laughing and preparing flowers. Jordan has come to get me once to handle and issue with a customer, but otherwise it’s been fine.

“Do you want to go for a walk with Roxy and I?” 

“Sure. Just let me put these things away and let Jordan know.”

“I’ll take the dishes in.” Luke jumps up to volunteer. “Stay here Roxy, be right back.” He says, touching her head.

We walk around the block and Luke says, “I should probably get her inside, out of the sun.”

“Oh, yeah, of course. It was nice hanging out with you.” I stammer.

“It was nice,” He smiles ducking his head. “If you still want to hang out, I can drop her off at home and come back to the shop, otherwise you can come up and we can walk back together, my place is just right there.” He says pointing a half block down. “But, if you need to get back to work, I guess we’ve kind of taken over your Saturday, I can stay home, get some things done.” He adds, ducking his head and rubbing his neck.

I touch his arm, sliding my hand down to the back of his hand. “It’s okay, the café kind of runs itself as long as everyone shows up to work. I do need to get some baking done this afternoon, I would love it, if you kept me company in the kitchen.”

“Okay.” He says, giving me a wide smile.

“I’ll come up with you and say goodbye to Roxy.” I say, by now we’re outside their building, Roxy is running ahead up the stairs and Luke follows. He unlocks the front door and let’s go of her leash, holding the door, motioning for me to go ahead.

We’re all in the foyer and Luke says. “Go ahead and open the other door.” I nod and do as he says. I walk through and take it all in, it’s breathtaking inside, looks like someone went through great lengths to keep the original architecture and charm, while adding some subtle updates.

“It’s beautiful!” I say in awe.

“Would you like a tour?” Luke asks, with a chuckle. I can only nod. “Off to the right there is the living room.” We peek into his sparsely decorated living room a fireplace and wood built in bookshelves. We walk through an open space with high ceilings alongside the stairs and go into the room to the right. “This is the dining room.”

“I see that you’re into extreme minimalist design.” I say.

Luke laughs and ushers me to the door on the left. “And this is the kitchen.” We’ve settled into the kitchen and he offers me a seat at the island. “Can I get you anything?”

“Water, please.” I request, while sitting down. Luke turns to the fridge taking out 3 bottles of water plus some other containers, he sets everything on the counter and hands me one of the bottles of water. He walks away and returns with a dog dish, pouring a bottle of water in before crouching to put it down near him.

Roxy runs over and greedily starts to drink, while Luke unclips her leash and pets her for a bit. “It was hot out today, wasn’t it? You like that nice cold water?” He asks Roxy before standing back up. He looks at me looking a little embarrassed, like he forgot I was sitting there. “Uh, I need to…Are you okay, waiting while I get Roxy’s food together? It won’t take long.”

“Yeah, that’s fine.” I assure. He starts rinsing fruits and veggies and grabs 2 cutting boards and a knife. He sets the freshly washed blueberries in front of me and I take a couple, popping them into my mouth.

He gets to work, chopping veggies and says. “You noticed I don’t have much furniture and things. I’m used to kind of the nomad lifestyle. When I was in the Army, I wasn’t stationed anywhere long term, I needed to be able to pick up and be where they needed me at a second’s notice.” Throughout Luke speaking, I continue to munch on the blueberries in front of me. He smiles at me, looks in the cabinet near where he’s standing and pulls out a ramekin, pouring some of the blueberries inside, setting it in front of me.

“Thank you. I **love** blueberries, they’re like my kryptonite!” I say. “So, is the job you have right now temporary or short term?”

“No, I guess I’m just not sure that this is my final resting place. It’s just the way that I’ve lived my life, being ready to move on at the drop of a hat, I guess.” Luke pushes the cutting board with the veggies away and brings the other board closer, unwrapping the meat that we got at the Farmers Market this morning. I walk over to Roxy, crouching down to pet her, because I would prefer not to watch him cut up that meat.

“Is there a problem?” Luke asks, probably due to my abrupt departure.

“The sight of raw meat grosses me out. I’m a vegetarian.”

“Oh, sorry, I didn’t know. I’ll just quickly cut enough for Roxy’s food now. I’ll finish the rest later. How long have you been a vegetarian?”

“Since I was 14, over 15 years. I love animals too much. I volunteer at an animal rescue a couple times a month.” Luke nods and washes his hands, putting the meaty cutting board in the sink, before grabbing a container and storing the rest of the meat in the fridge.

“It’s all clear, over here.” He says. “I’m kind of a major carnivore, I admire your choice.” I notice that he’s moved Roxy’s food dish with the meat, to the far end of the counter.

“So, when you gonna decide to put down roots? This looks like a really big place for one person and a dog.”

“I hope this’ll be the place.” Luke says looking me in the eye for a minute before dropping his eyes back to getting Roxy’s food ready. “This place is much bigger that what I was looking for, much bigger than what I needed. My realtor insisted that I needed to see this place and I fell in love with it. My job takes me away a lot, for long stretches, so I guess I haven’t really noticed how ‘minimalist’ it is.” By now he’s added the fruits and veggies and is cracking an egg over Roxy’s food. He crouches down and says “here girl.” He stands up and looks at me “You sure you don’t want anything? You haven’t eaten anything besides that cookie and a little bowl of blueberries.”

“I am a little hungry, but I have some hummus and pita at the shop I can munch on, once we get back.” I smile.

“Oh, right, vegetarian. I can offer you a PB & J or make you a grilled cheese. I’m kind of hungry myself.”

“A grilled cheese would be nice.” My eyes lighting up.

“Do you want to pick the cheeses?” Luke asks, motioning to the refrigerator. “they’re on the top shelf, left side.” He finishes as he cleans up from preparing Roxy’s food.

“You can use whatever. I’m not picky.” I say, snatching a few more blueberries. Luke smiles at me and refills my ramekin.

“are you sure, some of my cheeses are pretty powerful.”

“Oh, I can handle anything you got.” I flirt.

“Can you?” He says, looking me up and down, with his tongue in his cheek. I’m suddenly feeling warm and flustered, I did not expect him to flirt back or for him to give me that look.

‘Yeah.” I breathe out. Luke holds eye contact with me momentarily, before returning to his clean up. My phone dings and I rummage through my bag, taking it out. There’s a text from Jordan asking if I’m coming back this afternoon. I let her know that yes, I will be back within the hour. She texts back to ask if it’s okay to let Mario leave early. I turn around in my seat and call her. “What’s going on?” I ask, with slight panic.

“Nothing, everything is fine.” she assures, “Mario was just wondering if he could head out a half hour early, apparently he has a date tonight.” I can almost hear the eye roll, I laugh.

“How’s it been around there?”

“Pretty busy, normal for a Saturday.”

“Do you need me to come back? Are you guys swamped?”

“No, it’s fine.” She laughs at my overreaction. “We can handle it. It’s been a pretty steady stream, but not overwhelming. I got it here, you just enjoy your time with Luke.”

“You’re sure?”

“We’re good. You hired me to manage, so let me manage. I was just wondering if you’d be back to know if we’d be staffed to let Mario take off early.”

“Oh, yeah, that’s fine. I’ll be back in a while. Thanks Jordan.”

“No problem Boss Lady. Bye.”

“Bye.” I say. Ending the call and turning back around, putting my phone on the counter.

Luke turns from the stove, spatula in hand and asks, “Everything okay? Do you need to get back?”

“Everything’s fine, Jordan just wanted to know if I was coming back, I may have freaked out just a little and thought that something was wrong. But, everything is fine. She reminded me that I hired her to be the manager and I should let her do that. I don’t need to be there all day, every day.”

“Good reminder.” He says, removing the grilled cheese from the pan, placing each on a plate. “You gotta take care of yourself.” He finishes, looking up at me. He opens the drawer where he’s standing and pulls out a butter knife. He cuts one sandwich in four triangles and hovers the knife over the other, asking “halves or quarters?”

“Quarters.”

He cuts the other sandwich in fourths the same as the other and slides it over to me. “Right answer.” He says, smiling at me. “What can I get you to drink? I’ve got juice, sparkling water, beer; but I’m guessing that’s a ‘no’ since you have to go back to work.”

“Your right, that’s a no for beer right now, but maybe another time. Can I have a sparkling water, please?” He grabs one for himself and one for me and comes to sit down next to me. We chat, while eating our lunch.

Once we’re done he says “I’m just going to wash these dishes, you can head back if you don’t want to wait.”

“No, it’s fine, Jordan has it under control, back at the café. I do need to use the restroom, where’s your bathroom?” I ask, standing up and grabbing my bag.

“Upstairs.” He points. “I’ll show you.” We walk up the stairs while he starts to explain. “The, uh, the only bathroom up here is the one in my bedroom, hope that’s okay.” I nod. “Well, there’s another up here, but it hasn’t worked since I moved in. I need to get a plumber out to take a look at it, but I’m not at home consistently.” He leads me into his bedroom, I’m hoping this will not be the only time I’m ever in here. “It’s the door to the left,” he says, motioning with his hand.

“Thank you.”

“I’m gonna go back down and work on those dishes. Will you be able to find your way back down okay?”

“Yeah, I’ll be fine. Thanks.” After using the bathroom and washing my hands, I freshen up my makeup, applying more lipstick. I look in the mirror and decide my hair is a lost cause, between the Farmers Market, sitting in the sun for a couple hours and our little walk, it’s a windblown mess. I rummage through my bag and find an elastic, putting it up in a ponytail.

I leave the bathroom and look around; the bedroom is just as empty as the rest of the house. Curiosity gets the better of me and I want to know what’s in the door to the right. I open the door and poke my head in, it’s a mostly empty walk in closet, I shut the door again. The room has a king size bed, a nightstand with a book with a bookmark sticking out of it and a dresser. I walk over to the dresser. On the top, I see a bottle of cologne, a picture of Roxy; I can’t help but smile at that. There’s an old looking photo of a man dressed in full uniform, standing at salute; my guess is that it’s Luke’s Dad. There are two more framed photos. The first has Luke, smiling, standing with his arms around two women, one older the other significantly older, they both look just like him. The other photo is of a group of guys in camo pants and green shirts, all smiling big for the camera, the frame says ‘Ranger Strong’ along the bottom. The last item I notice is a gold badge, sitting close to the edge that says, ‘Federal Bureau of Investigation’ on it. Realizing that I’ve likely stepped over a line by snooping around on his dresser, I hurry back towards the steps. When I get back downstairs, Luke is rinsing the dishes and putting them in the dish drain. He turns towards me, looking at me, studying me, I look away.

“Everything okay?” He asks.

“Everything’s fine.” I rush out.

He looks me up and down, turns the water off and walks closer to me. I can’t look at him. “Did you see my badge?” He asks.

“Yeah, I was kind of looking around the top of your dresser at your photos before I left your room and it was just sitting there.” I say, still not looking at him.

“So….are you okay with knowing that I work for the F.B.I.?” At that question I whip my head up, not the reaction, I expected.

“Yeah, of course. Are you mad at me for snooping? I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine, I wouldn’t have let you into my house if I didn’t trust you. I don’t let many people in.” I look at him thinking, I don’t think he’s just talking about letting people into his house. He did talk about closing himself off after he came back from the Army.

I must have been lost in thought too long, because Luke says, “you don’t have to pretend. I understand if me working for the F.B.I. is too much for you. I can leave you alone, find another coffee shop.”

“No!” I say, walking up to him and grabbing his arm. “It’s really okay. My friend JJ, the one with the adorable little boy, she works for the F.B.I. too, she’s the press liaison for the B.A.U..” Luke nods and takes a deep breath. “I’m just feeling guilty for being a snoop is all.” I assure him. “I’m really sorry!” I assure again.

“Don’t worry about it.”

“So, do you want to tell me what you do for the F.B.I.?” I ask, catching myself too late. “Wait, you don’t need to tell me that, sorry.”

“I work for the Fugitive Task Force, hunting down ex-cons and most wanted. Sometimes I have to do surveillance for a while and sometimes I’m undercover, that’s why I’m not home much.”

“Thank you, for trusting me with this information. I won’t tell anyone.” I say, touching both his arms.

“Not really information I tell many people, thank you, Penelope. So, you ready to head back?”

“Yeah, ready when you are.” Luke locks up and we start down the steps. “I can keep an eye on Roxy and your place, when you’re gone.”

“Thanks for the offer, that’s really nice of you. I have a couple dog sitters that alternate coming by every couple of days when I’m gone.”

“Well, keep me in mind, I’m usually right down the street, I don’t mind coming by on their off days.”

“I’ll think about it.” We walk through the front door and Luke says, “I’m gonna just get a coffee” and heads for the back of the line.

“I’ll grab it for you.” I say, touching the inside of his arm, pulling him gently out of line.

“But, I still need to pay.” He says, following me reluctantly.

“It’s just $3.” I wave off.

“This is your business, I don’t feel comfortable, taking advantage like that.”

“Fine.” I huff, rolling my eyes and smiling. He pulls out his wallet and hands me a $10. I grab a mug and fill it, handing it over to him. I slip into the second register and get his change. While trying to hand him his change, he takes the $5, leaving me to hold the $1 and the change.

I look at him in confusion, thrusting my hand out further toward him. He dodges my hand and says “Keep it, a tip for my barista.” He smiles, taking a sip of his coffee. I chuckle and lead him to the back, putting my bag down.

“I’ll grab you a chair.” I say, picking up a chair from our break area and bringing it over to the low counter in the middle of the kitchen. “Here you go.” I say, motioning for him to sit. I put my apron on and wash my hands.

“Thank you!” Luke says, sitting down. “What are you going to make?”

“Chocolate chip muffins, coffee cake muffins and lemon poppyseed, right now. I’ll refrigerate the batter and bake them throughout the week. I’m also making cinnamon roll dough, that’ll rise overnight and cookie doughs to freeze.”

Luke looks at his watch. “It’s already 4, you gonna be able to get all that done?” He asks, looking at me skeptically.

“It won’t take too long, I’ve got a pretty good system. I’ve been doing this for years.” I assure, while gathering my ingredients.

“Where did you learn to bake?”

“My mom. We baked together all the time as a kid. I was always in the kitchen with her, from the time I can remember.” I look up, smiling at him.

“That sounds nice. I never learned to bake. My parents were very traditional, males weren’t allowed in the kitchen.”

“I can teach you.” I say, measuring ingredients and putting them in turn into the 3 stand mixers set up. “So, I guess you can’t cook? That grilled cheese was tasty.”

Luke chuckles and says, “Yeah, that’s one of the first things I learned to make, I like to think I’ve gotten pretty good at it.” He smiles, before continuing. “I’ve been slowly teaching myself over the years, not that I’ve had much time to practice. I went into the Army right after high school. When I got out, I stayed with my Mom for a year and her views about men in the kitchen have not changed. I’ve learned a few things over the past year. My other specialty is omelets.”

“I hope I get to try your omelet someday.”

“I hope you do, too.” He smiles, looking me in the eye.

Did he just insinuate what I thought he did? Of course he didn’t, I’m reading too much into it.

I work on the batters and doughs, while we talk over the next hour. Luke washes the dishes for me in between despite my protests. I’m just about done and we’re having the same argument again.

“I know you _can_ do it yourself, but please, can you just let me be helpful?” He asks.

“Fine.” I concede, trying my best to keep my scowl in place.

“Thank you.” Luke says, touching my arm. “One more favor? Will you please sit down and rest for a few minutes, while I work on these?”

“You are very demanding.” I grumble. “But, I guess I am a little tired. So, I guess I’ll sit for a while,” I say haughtily, sending a wink at him. Luke smiles at me before carrying some of the dishes to the sink. I sit down and pull the cookie sheets and doughs closer to me. We work in silence while he washes dishes and I get the dough put on the cookie sheets.

Luke finishes and walks over as I’m wrapping the cookie sheets in plastic wrap. “Will you help me get these put in the freezer, please?” We pick up the pans and walk to the freezer. “Thank you for everything.” I say, shutting the freezer. “I really appreciate all your help.”

“Do you? It was like pulling teeth to get you to let me help.” Luke smiles at me.

“I know.” I say, crossing my arms. “I’ve always been an independent spirit.” I duck my head.

“I love an independent woman, don’t get me wrong, I just want you to take care of yourself. If I offer, it’s because I want to lighten your load, not because I think you can’t do it.” Luke reaches out, resting his hand on my arm.

I nod, “I’ll try to remember that. Thanks.” I say, still not looking up. I can feel my eyes start to well with tears, thinking about all the times I’ve pushed people away or have been chastised for my strong independent streak.

“Hey, you okay? I didn’t mean to upset you,”

“I’m fine.” I say in a quavering voice, reaching up to quickly wipe away a tear before it can fall.

“I’m sorry, Penelope. Do you want a hug?” I nod and Luke wraps his arms around me, I wrap mine around his middle and melt into his chest. He rubs my back and whispers apologies and shushing me. I take a few deep breaths and work on calming down.

“Sorry,” I mumble, face still buried in his chest. “I’m being ridiculous.” I sniffle.

“No, you’re not.” He says as I pull away. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to come off like I was chastising you.”

“You didn’t, it’s just the same sticking point people have had with me my whole life.”

“I’m sorry. It’s not like I’m running for the hills or anything over it.” Luke wipes a few strands of hair out of my face and keeps his hand on the side of my neck. I nod and sniffle again.

“I’m just going to run to the bathroom and freshen up.” I say, pointing behind me. Luke nods and continues to look at me with concern in his eyes. “I’m okay, promise.” At those words, he finally releases his hold on me.

I don’t see Luke the next day, he probably didn’t want to deal with my weepiness and despite what he said, I’m positive I scared him away with my fierce independence. Another man to add to the already impressive score card. I’m trying not to let it get me down, we didn’t even really know each other that well. It’s probably best that we dealt with this early, instead of getting too attached. The bell on the door jingles and I look up, hoping it’s Luke. Of course, it’s not him, hasn’t been the 40 some odd times the bell has rung. I finish straightening up and let Jordan know that I’ll be heading out for the night and to text me if anything comes up. I head to the back to gather my things. I’m checking a message on my phone, when I see the swinging doors open out of the corner of my eye, I don’t look up.

“Hey, Penelope” I hear, my head whips up.

“Luke! What are you doing here, back here?”

“Jordan said it was okay to come back. I came to apologize about yesterday and to give you this.” He extends his hand to me and is holding a yellow rose surrounded by 3 white tulips being held together by a ribbon. “I’m sorry about being pushy, not one of my finer qualities, I’ll back off and stop pushing.”

I walk over and take the flowers from his hand, looking at them, saying “Thank you” quietly.

Luke looks me over and says “Sorry, you heading out?”

“Yeah, I have my grief support group tonight.”

“I should let you go.” Luke says, ducking his head.

“Walk me to my car?” I ask.

“Yeah, I can do that.” He smiles.

We walk through the swinging doors in awkward silence, when we reach the front door I speak up. “Thanks again for these.” I say, holding up the flowers. “They’re really pretty.”

“You’re very welcome!”

I take a deep breath and say “Look, what you said wasn’t wrong, I take too much on and have a hard time letting people help. In my experience, it’s easier to struggle through by myself than to wait around for others. In the past, people say they want to help, but when you go to call upon their help they’ve got a million excuses. No offense, It’s really nothing to do with you.”

“None taken. I can’t promise you that I’ll be here every time you need help because of the unpredictable nature of my job. But when I’m here, I promise to be here. I know it probably sounds like just another empty promise, so I’ll do what I can to prove it to you.” By now, we’re standing beside my car. I give a glassy eyed head nod. Luke puts his hand on my arm and says “I hope your group tonight goes well. Hopefully I’ll be around tomorrow.” He squeezes my arm, before letting go.

“Thanks, have a good night. Luke.” I say, getting into my car.

I don’t really see much of Luke over the next week. He stops by a couple mornings during the early rush so we don’t get to really talk. Hard to know if he’s avoiding me or if he’s been busy with work. Probably for the best, I think I need to take a step back. We’re acquaintances, bordering on friendship. Just because we’ve had some good talks, spent a whole amazing day together and I adore his dog, doesn’t make this anything more. He’s just a guy who frequents my coffee shop and happened to catch my attention. 

I’ve changed and am putting the finishing touches on my makeup in my office bathroom. I pucker my lips together and take one more look, before packing my things up. I stand at my desk and transfer my stuff I’ll need for this evening into the matching purse. I step into my heels and head out to the front of the café.

“Okay, Jordan, I’m gonna go now. Text me if something happens.”

“Yeah, probably not going to happen. I don’t want to ruin your big night. I can call one of your brothers if there’s an emergency.”

“Well you can call them, then text me.”

“I’ll think about it.” Jordan smiles. “Get outta here, enjoy your night away. You look gorgeous.”

“Thank you.” I say before walking to the door.

I’m walking out of the shop when I hear a bark, I look up and see Roxy at my feet again, wagging her tail, the end of the leash on the ground.

“Roxy, what are you doing, girl?” Luke asks, walking over. He bends to pick the end of her leash back up and looks up at me. “Good evening, Penelope. Roxy was too excited to see you again.” He pulls Roxy off to the side, in front of the window of the shop, instead of the door.

I reach down and pet her head and tell her, “I’ve missed you too, girl.”

“We were coming by to see you, but it looks like you already have plans.”

“Yeah, going to see Raphie’s wife’s play tonight, but treating myself to a solo dinner first.”

“Is a solo dinner what you want?”

“Everyone was busy during this narrow window I have before the play. Not that I mind going out solo.”

“I’m not.”

“Not what,” asking for clarification.

“Not busy right now….if you want company” Luke says ducking his head and rubbing his neck.

“Sure, but we have to get going, my window is getting smaller.” I say, looking at my watch.

“I need to drop Roxy off at home.” Luke counters.

“Bring her along. I know a place that has great outdoor seating.”

“Okay.” He says walking me to my car.

I get in and turn the key in the ignition and it doesn’t turn over. “Come on Esther, sweetie, not tonight.” I say. I blow out a breath and try again.

“We can just ride together.” Luke says.

“Yeah, I guess we can.” I say, grabbing my purse from the passenger seat.

“I’m just parked over here.” Luke motions down the block, I can see his black SUV across the street. We get to his truck and Luke opens the door for me, he puts his hand out to help me up in my heels.

“Thank you.” I say, before he closes my door, and let’s Roxy in the backseat.

He climbs in and starts the truck. “Where to?” He asks, buckling his seatbelt.

“Rossi’s over on 5th. Do you need directions?”

“No, I’ve seen the place.” He says pulling out and getting on the road. “You look really nice.”

“Thank you. I love dressing up, but not something I get to do much of with my job at the coffee shop.” I say.

“Hm.” Luke nods his head. “I feel really underdressed,” he says, smoothing his polo shirt down with one hand.”

“You look good.” I say without thinking. I turn away and look out the window.

“Thanks.” He mumbles, before saying. “I can look at your car tomorrow, if you want me to. Esther, is that its name?”

“Yeah, her name’s Esther. You don’t have to, I’m sure I can get one of my brothers to look at her.”

“I don’t mind, I can if you want me to. It’s up to you.”

“That would be nice, thanks.”

“I’ll come by sometime in the afternoon.” We’ve reached the restaurant and have circled the block once to find a parking spot. “Busy night.” Luke comments.

“It is Friday.” I say. We’re pulling up in front of the restaurant again and Luke slows to a stop.

“Here, I’ll let you out and go find a parking spot.”

“Okay.”

“You gonna be okay in those heels?”

“I’ll be fine, Luke.” I chuckle. “See you soon”

Luke and Roxy join me 10 to 15 minutes after I’ve been seated. I’ve had a chance to look at the menu and decide what I want. Luke sits down and takes a drink from the water I ordered for him, smiling at me. My resolve of telling myself that we’re just acquaintances or he’s just another customer completely crumbles with that smile he flashed at me. I spend the evening engrossed in good conversation with Luke, I’ve missed this over the past week. Spending time with him draws me right back in. There’s a connection that I’ve never felt so quickly with anyone, he’s so sincere in everything he says.

The waitress overtly flirts with Luke the whole night, while I’m sitting there. It starts with a very enthusiastic greeting once he joins me and escalates from there. Seeing Luke with his hand resting on my arm at one point doesn’t deter her one bit. Luke to his credit, doesn’t give her the time of day, aside from his usual politeness. He spends the entire night with a laser focus on me and it feels nice.

“So, I’ll drive you to the theater. I can pick you up when the play’s over.”

“You don’t have to, I can take a cab or an Uber.”

“I know I don’t have to, I want to. I don’t trust those rideshare services. It would make me feel better to know you’re safe. Please.”

“Alright, fine.” I say, with an exaggerated eye roll and a smile.

“Thank you!” he beams. I’ve never seen someone so happy to let them do me a favor. I shake my head with a chuckle. Our very flirtatious waitress comes by at that moment.

“Anything else I can get for you?” She asks looking at only Luke.

“No, thank you. We’re good. Can we get the check, please?”

“Sure thing, be right back.” She says with a wink. She saunters off with a lot more sway to her hips.

“Someone’s got an admirer.” I tease.

“Yeah, well it’s not mutual.” Luke quickly assures. “Not to sound conceited, but it happens a lot. You’d think that if I show no interest they’d back off, but that’s not usually the case.”

“You’re too nice.” I say.

“Here’s the check.” The waitress says, bending at the waist to give Luke a good look at her cleavage, setting the check down on the table.

Luke keeps his eyes trained on the check. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome, please come again.” She says, running her hand from his hand to the crook of his arm. Once She’s walked away, Luke takes a deep breath.

“You okay?” I ask.

“Yeah. Uncomfortable is all.” He says, picking up the check and opening it. Luke scowls before quickly smoothing out his face.

I snatch the check from his hand saying. “I got this.”

“I’ll pay.” He says, trying to grab it back, I hold it against my front, out of his reach, smiling. “You’re chauffeuring me around tonight, I can pay for our dinner. Now,” I say, pulling the check from my chest and looking at Luke, fighting a smile. “Why don’t you go pull the car around Jeeves, while I pay the check?” I break out in a wide smile.

Luke looks at me with wide eyes and says, “wow, alright.” He smiles at me, holding my gaze. Luke takes his napkin from his lap and lays it on the table. “I’ll meet you out front in 15 minutes. Come on girl.” He says, waking Roxy. Luke crouches down to pick up Roxy’s leash.

I lay my hand on his shoulder and say. “Thanks Luke, I really appreciate everything.”

He lays his hand on my bare knee saying, “No problem.” Before snatching it away and quickly standing up. “I’ll just go get the car.” He mumbles before walking away.

The waitress is very disappointed that Luke is gone, when she comes to get payment. I sit at the table waiting for her to return my card for a while, I’ve seen her bringing items to other tables and chatting with co workers but has dodged me every time, I tried to get her attention. Eventually I walk inside to the bar and ask to speak to the manager. The manager comes out immediately and I explain what’s happened this evening and how I haven’t been able to get my card back. The manager calls the waitress over while chatting with another server and asks to see the check. She hands it over reluctantly with a huff. I can tell the second that the manager spots the waitress’ phone number and very explicit note written across the top. The check is finally paid and my card finally returned, I head outside. Luke pulls up a couple minutes later, reaching over to open the passenger door for me.

“What took so long? I had to circle the block a couple times. If you weren’t out this time, I was gonna park and come inside.” He says as I settle in my seat and he takes off.

“The waitress was bummed that you left and wouldn’t bring my card back.” I say, rolling my eyes.

“I’m sorry. I should have been direct with her and told her I wasn’t interested.”

I wave him off, saying. “I don’t think that would have made a difference if she wasn’t deterred by you having dinner with another woman.”

“Maybe.” Luke says noncommittally. We chat until we get to the theater. Luke stops in front of the doors, he hops out and is around the car before I can open my door fully. He opens the door the rest of the way and puts out a hand for me to take. “I’ll be back at 10. Have a good time.”

“I will!” I smile nodding my head. I hustle into the theater, that waitress’ shenanigans mean I’m cutting it closer that I would like. I head over to will call and pick up my ticket, making it to my seat with a few minutes to spare.

The play is amazing. I loved everything about it. I meet up with Ivonne afterwards to tell her how wonderful she was. We part with hugs and the promise to get together soon. I make my way outside and Luke is standing, leaning against his truck, looking down at his phone. I take a moment to enjoy the site, slowing my steps.

“Enjoying the view?” Luke asks not looking up from his phone.

“How did you know?” I huff

“You forget what I do for a living.” He smiles. “How was the play?” He asks, opening the passenger door for me.

I wait for him to get around to the other side and open his door, before gushing “It was so amazing. I don’t get out to the theater nearly enough.”

“Maybe we can go to see a performance together sometime.”

Luke has settled into his seat and I look over at him as he’s fastening his seatbelt. “You’re wearing a gun.” I point out.

“Yeah. I got a tip not too long after I dropped you off. I’m driving to North Carolina tonight. Does it make you uncomfortable? I can take it off.”

“No, you don’t have to. I’ve never seen you wear it before, it’s a little startling.”

“Sorry. Having second thoughts about being okay with what I do?”

“No, just thinking about what it all means is all. So, you said we should go to a show together, do you see many plays?”

“My Grandma is really into theater, she did some plays in high school and had big dreams of making it to Broadway before she met and married my Grandpa and wound up pregnant 6 months later. I was only one of a couple grandkids that would go along with her to her plays. I used to see a lot, but I’ve only seen a couple since I’ve been back home.”

“I was a theater geek in high school, if you can believe it. For my 16th birthday, my dad took me to New York to see a Broadway performance, I was so excited. It would be nice to have a theater buddy. Wait, you said you got a tip after you dropped me off? That was almost 3 hours ago. Why didn’t you leave sooner? I could have found another way home.”

“I didn’t want you to have to find another way home. I told you I would pick you up and that’s what I intended to do, how am I going to show you that I’m here as someone you can count on if I run off right after making a promise?”

“I mean, you do have a good reason, my hurt feelings aren’t that important.”

“They are to me. Look, my visit to North Carolina wasn’t too time sensitive, as long as I get there before sunrise it’ll be fine. Don’t worry about it.” 

We talk more about the play I saw tonight and what we’ve both seen in the past. Once we arrive at my house, Luke insists on walking me to my door. We say our goodbyes and I spontaneously hug him, telling him to stay safe.

The next day, Saturday I’m unloading the things I bought from the farmers market, walking to the door. Luke is sitting outside with Roxy, a cup of coffee in hand. He smiles and stands when he sees me approaching and walks up to me taking one of the bags from my hand. Now that he’s close enough, I can see that he’s got a butterfly bandage above his eyebrow and a cut near the corner of his mouth. “What happened to you.” I ask, raising my now empty hand to his eyebrow, touching it gently. I look into his eyes noticing that his eyes are red and bloodshot.

“Things didn’t go as smoothly in North Carolina as I hoped they would.” He shrugs.

I drop my hand and ask “Have you even gotten any sleep?”

“Enough.” He says, cryptically. Walking to the door and holding it open for me.

“Why do I not believe you?” He shrugs. “New question, and I want a real answer. How many hours of sleep did you get?” I ask, putting the bag on the kitchen counter. Luke looks down and mumbles something I can’t hear. I stop unpacking the bag and walk closer to him asking “What did you say?”

“I said 2, I slept for 2 hours this morning.”

“2 hours? That’s not enough sleep.”

“It’s not, but I can make do.” He turns and starts unpacking the bag, putting its contents on the counter.

“How often do you just make do?” I press.

Luke takes a deep breath and says “Most nights. My years in the service kind of messed up my sleep schedule. The job I have now doesn’t help either. I’m used to sleeping when I can, but it’s usually not easy for me to stay asleep.” He continues to fiddle with the things he just unpacked and continues. “I have PTSD and as a result I have night terrors and nightmares most nights. Some nights I don’t even go to bed in an effort to avoid reliving what I saw and what I had to do when I was overseas.”

“Awe, Luke.” I say, putting my arm around his waist and laying my head on his shoulder. We stand like that for a few minutes before I ask, “Do you take sleep medicine or anything?”

“I have some that was prescribed to me, but I don’t take it. It’s hard to wake up on it and gives me a hangover effect, I need to be ready to go at any time for my job.”

“How about we go over to your house and try to relax, see if you can get some more sleep?”

“I said I would check out your car today.”

“Esther can wait, I have a rental right now. I’ll be right back” I say, walking through the swinging doors. “Hey, Mario.” I say, motioning him over from his clean up duties. “I got to run for the rest of the afternoon. Will you put the Farmers Market stuff away for me? The flowers are also still in my car. I’ve got a rental right now, here’s the key, just put it in the register when you’re done with it. Put the flowers in the cooler and they should be okay until I take care of them tomorrow. Thanks.” I stand to the side and wait for Jordan to finish with the customer she’s helping, before giving her the rundown.

I go back to the kitchen and loop my arm with Luke’s “You ready? Come on.” Leading him out.

“You really don’t have to do this. I’m fine.”

“I know I don’t have to, I want to. Now, let’s go.”

Once we get to Luke’s house, I insist he change into comfy clothes, while I make chamomile tea for the both of us. I’m sitting on the couch when he comes back down. We turn on the tv, settling on Animal Planet, while we sip our tea. After an hour I see Luke’s nodding off, out of the corner of my eye. I let him be for a few minutes, smiling to myself. I take his arm and give a gentle tug toward me, he snaps awake. “It’s okay, Luke. Here, lay your head in my lap.”

“I’m fine.”

“You’re either gonna end up with a crick in your neck or your gonna fall over and hurt yourself, just lay down.” Luke reluctantly lays his head in my lap, straightening his legs so his calves are resting on the arm of the chair. He looks up at me, looking completely uncomfortable. “Just relax.” I smile down at him, running my hand through his hair. He squeezes his eyes shut, I can see and feel him start to relax. After about 20 minutes, his breathing evens out and he seems to be asleep. I turn the tv down a few notches. I still my hand running through his hair and stare down at him. I run my eyes over his face, with his pointed nose that you really only notice in profile, those full kissable lips and his square jaw. I very lightly run my index finger along the beard that he seems to have adopted after I told him I like it. His face twitches and I pull my hand back, returning to running my hand through his hair. 

An hour and a half into Luke’s sleep, his whole body jumps, like someone scared him and he starts mumbling things that that I can’t understand. I start to run my fingers through his hair again and shush him. A tear runs down his face, settling in his ear as he starts to settle back into sleep. Another hour of sitting there and nature calls, I just can’t hold it anymore. I extract myself from beneath him as carefully as I can. He seems to be still asleep as I climb the steps to the bathroom.

I get back into the living room and discover that I wasn’t as successful as I thought I was. Luke is sitting on the edge of the couch with his head in his hands and his hair standing up, from me running my fingers through it. “I thought I got up without waking you. I’m sorry.”

“You did, nightmare, woke me up.” He says with his head still in his hands.

I sit next to him and start to rub his back. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“No thanks.” He answers, finally looking at me. His eyes are red, but I’m not sure it’s from lack of sleep this time.

“Do you want to try to get more sleep?”

“I don’t think I can.”

“Do you want to at least try? I can read to you. I have a really good book in my bag.”

“What are you reading?” He asks me.

I rummage through my bag and pull out the book in disappointment and embarrassment. “Well I was reading a good book, I forgot I finished it. I haven’t started Twilight yet. Want to read it together?” Luke eyes me skeptically. “Come on, what else are you gonna do?”

“I was kind of thinking I was getting hungry, want me to make you a late lunch?”

“Sure, that would be nice, since it doesn’t seem like I’m gonna get you to go back to sleep right now.”

Luke rubs the heels of his hands into his eyes, sniffles and stands up. I follow, walking into the kitchen. He opens the fridge and asks “what do you want to eat?”

I shrug “What do you have?”

He turns around and smiles, “not much. I can make you another grilled cheese.”

“That works.” Luke pulls out the bread, cheese, butter and blueberries. He pours some blueberries into a bowl before setting the bowl in front of me and the carton back in the fridge. “Thanks, do you want some? We can share.”

“No thanks.” He says slicing the cheese. “I don’t like blueberries.”

“You don’t, how is that possible?” I ask with a look of disbelief.

Luke smiles and says, “I don’t know. Too seedy and sour.”

“They are not!” I gasp.

“Wow, you are taking this really personally.” Luke laughs, pulling down the skillet and turning the burner on.

“Why do you buy so much if you don’t like them?”

“Roxy eats them. I also saw that look in your eye when you made a beeline for them at the Farmers Market last week.” 

“I did not have a look in my eye.”

“Oh, you most definitely had a ‘look’” Luke counters with a chuckle, laying the bread in the heated, buttered skillet.

We continue to tease and talk while he finishes preparing our lunch. I check in with Jordan to make sure that everything is okay at Emilio’s. We’re almost done with our lunch when Luke’s phone rings. He snatches it from the counter, looking at the caller id. “Sorry, I gotta take this.” He says, walking to the dining room. I finish my last couple of bites and walk my dishes to the sink. I start to wash my dishes and the ones from preparing our lunch. I’m mostly done when Luke walks back into the kitchen. “What are you doing?” he asks, walking up beside me.

“Um, washing our lunch dishes, I thought it was pretty obvious.” I tease with an eye roll.

“But why? I could have done those when I got off the phone.”

“Well now you don’t have to.” I say wringing the sponge and setting it in the holder. “Is everything okay? Do you need to head out again?” I ask, motioning to the phone still in his hand.

“Everything’s okay. I don’t have to leave right now.” He says picking up his plate, dumping the rest in the garbage and walking to the sink. “I’m going to have to go out tonight.” He says starting to wash his plate and cup.

I’m still standing next to him propped against the counter. “What time?”

“Not until 11 or 12, we’ll start some overnight surveillance in D.C.. I’ll probably be gone for a few days.”

“Oh, good, that gives you a few more hours to try to get some sleep in.”

“I’m fine, I don’t need more sleep.”

I rest my hand on his arm and say. “You’ve had a total of about 4 and a half hours of sleep today, and lord only knows when’s the last time you slept before then.” Luke stills and ducks his head. “You’ll be gone overnight and working for the next couple days at least.” I squeeze his arm and ask, “can you please humor me and try to get some more sleep.” Luke nods his head and I say, “thank you. I can stay with you, if it helps.”

“That would be nice, but I don’t want you out late, because of me.”

“I can stay until tomorrow morning. Take Roxy out for a walk and give her breakfast, before I go.”

“You sure? You really don’t have to.”

“I’m sure. I want to.”

“Okay.” He agrees, just above a whisper.

“I’m going to run to the shop.” I say giving his arm one more squeeze before letting go. “I’ve got a change of clothes in my office, I’m going to go grab those, check in and let Jordan know I won’t be back today.”

“Okay, I’ll get Roxy’s food ready for tomorrow morning, so you don’t have to deal with the meat and go make up the guest room.”

“Thank you! I would get her food ready if I had to, because I love her, but if I don’t have to that’s even better.” I say, making a disgusted face.

I head over the café and talk to Jordan, grabbing my car keys out of the register and my bag from my office. Before I leave, I grab a few cookies from the kitchen. I let myself back into Luke’s house, set my bag down in the living room and take the cookies to the kitchen. I check the dining room and call out Luke’s name when he’s not there either. “I’m up here” He calls. I walk up the stairs and find him in his bedroom, putting a pillowcase on a pillow. “I got the guest room ready for you, then I remembered the bathroom situation. I changed these sheets too in case you want to sleep in here.” I smirk, Luke’s eyes widen “Alone, I mean. After I leave.” Luke rushes out.

“I figured.” I assure, smirk still in place. “So, what do you usually do to get ready for bed?”

Luke shrugs. “I usually kind of fall asleep wherever.”

“Okay, but if you were trying to set the mood for sleep, what are the ideal circumstances?”

“Reading usually puts me to sleep, I don’t like to be too hot and I usually sleep in my underwear, I hate getting tangled in clothes.”

“Well, the last one may be tricky.” I say with a wink directed at him. “If you want to turn the air up, you can and I can read to you. Do you want to see if that helps?”

“We can try that. We can go back downstairs to the couch.”

“That couch is too small for you, I want you to be comfortable. Why don’t we just set up here?”

“I want you to be comfortable too. Are you okay being in bed with me?”

“Totally!” I say, “I’m going to go get my book from my bag and run to the bathroom. I’ll meet you back here.”

20 minutes later, Luke is laying almost as far away from me as he can, looking panicked. I stop reading aloud and say, “Come here” Patting the mattress near me. Luke scoots over a little, his shirt getting caught around him in a weird way, he huffs and straightens it. “Why don’t you take that off?” I ask.

“It’s fine.” He says quickly.

“It seems like it’s giving you trouble, just what you hate.” I say, he sits up and takes the shirt off, laying back down. “Comfy?” I ask, he nods. I scoot closer to him and start to run my hand through his hair, his face looses some of it’s panic and he closes his eyes momentarily before popping them back open. “It’s okay. Just relax. I’m gonna stay right here. I’ll be here to take care of you.” He closes his eyes and I continue to talk to him, he’s asleep within 15 minutes. I sit up fully and read to my self for a while. I feel movement next to me an hour in and I fear he’s waking up, I put my hand in his hair ready to soothe him, but instead he rolls over, burying his face into my thigh and throwing his arm over my legs. I run my fingers through his hair looking at him for a bit, before returning to my book. I decide after an hour or so that I’m done with Twilight, I play on my phone for a while, listen to some music and text with JJ for a bit. I look over and pick up the book sitting on Luke’s nightstand. Luke mumbles and tightens his hold on my legs and I sooth him again. I read his book for a little while before it gets too dark and my eyelids start to droop.

I startle awake and look around. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.” Luke whispers, his hand on my shoulder.

“What time is it?” I blink at him.

“Almost 10:45, I just woke up. I’m gonna get ready and head out. I didn’t want to leave you sitting up in that position. Lay down.”

I blink at him and inch myself down, rolling over to my side. Luke pulls the blanket over me and I pull it up to my chin, snuggling in. I lay there half awake and watch Luke go into the bathroom and hear the shower turn on. I think that hear a door opening and open my eyes to see Luke with a towel around his waist go into his walk-in closet. There’s some fodder for my dreams. He comes out fully clothed and walks towards the bed, setting something down on the nightstand.

“Go back to sleep” He bends down and kisses my forehead. I close my eyes and snuggle in, drifting off to sleep.

I wake up at 4:30, partly because I’m used to waking up early to be at the shop and partially because I fell asleep so early. I roll to my back and take a deep breath, smelling Luke all around me. I can’t help but smile. I lay for a few minutes before sitting up and swinging my legs over the side of the bed. On the nightstand, I spot a folded piece of paper with my name on it. I move the keys off the paper and open it.

Dear Penelope,

Thanks for insisting that I sleep, to be honest, I was not happy. Sleep is a touchy subject for me as I’m sure you’ve figured out. My nightmares make me feel weak and out of control, so thank you for not making a big deal and making it worse. I slept for a 6 hour stretch! I don’t think you realize how amazing that is. I feel so good and that’s thanks to you. Thanks again, Penelope. Have a good few days until I get back.

Luke

P.S. My cell phone number is (718) xxx-xxxx. Call me if anything comes up with Roxy.

I fold the note back up and sigh with the biggest smile on my face. I pick up the keys off the nightstand and stand up, intending to head downstairs to get my bag with my clothes. As I pass the dresser, I see my bag sitting next to it, Luke must have brought it up before he left. I tuck the note and the keys in an inside pocket. I take the bag and head into the bathroom. I complete my morning routine as best I can and emerge, heading downstairs to take care of Roxy. She’s laying in her doggy bed and trots over when she sees me approach. I crouch down and give her some love, asking if she’s ready for a walk. We have our walk and breakfast together, happy to see that Luke saw my note and took the cookies with him. I say goodbye to Roxy and walk over to work. I could get used to this.

There’s a smile on my face the whole day. Sunday ended up being a longer day to make up for missing work yesterday and getting some things done around my house. It’s almost midnight and I’m getting in bed when I decide to text Luke.

Hey, Luke. It’s Penelope. Your note really made my day, glad I could help. I hope everything’s going well. See you when you get back. -Penelope

Luke texts back almost immediately.

I’m glad I could make your day. What are you still doing up? Shouldn’t you be in bed already? -Luke

I was just climbing in bed when I texted you, long day. -Penelope

I’m sorry you had a long day. Take care of yourself, get some sleep. -Luke

Good night, Luke. Stay safe. -Penelope

I’ll do my best. Good Night, Penelope. Pleasant Dreams. -Luke

I plug my phone in and set it on my nightstand and go to sleep.

Monday morning comes too early, but I’m greeted with a good morning text from Luke. We exchange texts throughout the day. Tuesday morning, I’m volunteering at the animal shelter. I flood Luke’s phone with extreme animal cuteness, maybe it’ll help to balance out what he’s going through out on his mission. Wednesday, I get into work super early to get some baking done before we open. I go to bed early that night and wake up to a missed text from Luke wondering what happened to me last night. Thursday morning, I’m opening Emilio’s and I hear a bark, I turn and see Roxy running toward me. Once she reaches me, she sits and wags her tail. I crouch down and ask her what she’s doing here. After I don’t see anyone coming for her, I let Jordan know that I’m taking Roxy back home. We make it close to Luke’s house and a woman is standing at the top of the steps yelling Roxy’s name. She turns and sees us walking closer, coming down the steps and approaching us.

“Thank you for finding her. I ran back to get my phone, I guess I didn’t shut the door all the way” She says to me.

“Oh, I didn’t find her, she found me.” The woman looks at me skeptically. “I’m Penelope. a friend of Luke’s.” I put my hand out to shake. She shakes my hand briefly and I continue. “I work at Emilio’s on the corner” I say pointing. “She’s given Luke the slip a few times to come and find me too.” I laugh. “Haven’t you girl?” I ask Roxy, petting her head. 

“I’m Jackie.” She says, looking at her watch. “It was nice to meet you, but I really need to get Roxy here walked and back home, I’ve got class in an hour.”

“Oh, yeah, sorry.” I stutter, handing over Roxy’s leash. Jackie gives me what looks like a fake smile and walks away, before I can say goodbye to Roxy. I head back over to the shop in time to help with the early morning rush.

Friday night I’m out for girl’s night. I haven’t heard from Luke in almost 2 days, ever since he texted me asking where I was Wednesday night. I’ve texted a few times and tried to call once or twice, but it just went to voicemail. I’m worried about him, while also beating myself up about acting like a clingy girlfriend. He gave you his number to call if there was an emergency with Roxy, you’re the one that decided to use it to harass him. I’m trying to put all that out of my mind and just enjoy girl’s night. Some of us are currently standing in a circle dancing and singing along. The song ends and we head back to the table, laughing.

“Hey, Penelope, I think your phone vibrated a couple times while you were out on the dance floor.” Ivonne says.

“Thanks.” I say, opening my purse and unlocking the screen. It’s three texts from Luke. I sit down on the stool to read them, a huge smile on my face. He’s safe. He’s sorry he had to turn his phone off and he apologizes if he worried me. He’s wrapping up the case and should be home by tomorrow morning.

“What are you over there smiling about?” JJ questions.

“Nothing, just a text from someone I haven’t heard from in a while.”

“Mhm, what’s his name?” Roberta question.

“His name’s Luke, he travels a lot for his job. We’re just friends, he was just checking in.”

“If you’re just friends, why’s he checking in? Sounds like you got him hooked.” Roberta surmises.

“Luke? That good looking guy you were with the last time I stopped by with Henry?” JJ asks.

“Yeah. Because I may have called a couple times because I was worried he wasn’t getting back to me, so really it’s me acting like the clingy girlfriend when I’m not the girlfriend.” I roll my eyes.

“Well what is he checking in about? You mean he’s looking for a booty call?” Roberta asks.

“No, nothing like that. He just wanted me to know everything was okay and he apologized for worrying me and to let me know he’d be back tomorrow morning.”

“And he didn’t invite you over for a little Saturday morning fun?” Roberta clarifies.

“No.”

“Then he’s got it bad for you, honey. If he’s just checking in with you and not expecting something from you, he’s a keeper.” Roberta concludes. My phone vibrates in my hand and I look down at it.

I guess you’re probably already in bed. Sleep tight. See you tomorrow. -Luke

I’m still up, sorry I didn’t text right back, I’m out at a club with some girlfriends. Thanks for letting me know you’re safe. Don’t worry about me being worried, it’s kind of my default setting. Sorry I was so… persistent. -Penelope

I look up from my phone and everyone is looking at me.

“Luke?” JJ asks.

“Yeah.” I grin.

“So, what did he want?” JJ, prods.

“Oh he just thought I had gone to bed, he was wishing me a good night.”

My phone buzzes again.

No need to apologize for your…persistence, it’s nice to know someone’s thinking of me while I’m out in the field. I’ll let you get back to girl’s night. Have fun! -Luke

I will! See you tomorrow. -Penelope

I put my phone back in my bag and pick up my drink, taking a sip. Everyone just looks at me expectantly for a few seconds before Ivonne caves. “And?” she asks.

“Nothing he was just telling me to have fun.” I roll my eyes dramatically.

“Sounds like a sweet guy. Why aren’t you together?” Ivonne asks. “Wait was he the one that picked you up, the night you came to my play?”

“Yeah, that was him. But that was just because Esther wouldn’t start when we were going out for dinner.”

“So, let me get this straight; a hot guy’s driving you around town, taking you out to dinners, sending you goodnight texts and ‘checking in’ with you, without expecting anything in return. Why haven’t you snatched him up, honey?” Roberta says and everyone laughs.

“I don’t think he’s interested in me like that. I don’t even know if we’d be friends if I weren’t so nosey and pushy; I kind of left him no choice.”

“Oh, he had a choice. He didn’t look unhappy when I met him.” JJ says.

“I mean, I think I’ve grown on him now. I don’t think he has much experience with dating. He went into the Army right out of high school, he just got out 2 years ago. He’s super hot but also kind of shy.” I conclude, hoping I’m not giving too much away. “look, I enjoy the friendship we have right now, we’ll see where it takes us down the line.” I conclude.

I spot Luke and Roxy just as I’m leaving for the Farmers Market. I walk out of Emilio’s and there they are. I rush over to the pair, “Luke! Your back, your safe.” I exclaim.

“I am.” Luke confirms with a smile. “Rox and I came to join you on your Farmers Market trip, if that’s okay.”

“Of course, that’s perfect!” I crouch down and greet Roxy too, before we start on our way. Luke opens the door for me, before letting Roxy in the back seat and going around to get in himself. “So, I know you can’t give details and I don’t want them. Did everything go okay?”

“Yeah, our week of surveillance paid off, we were able to track him down and take him into custody safely.” He concludes.

“That’s good.” I breathe out.

“I liked the pictures you sent me at the animal shelter. It’s like you knew I was having a bad day, that day.”

“Excellent! I didn’t know if I was bothering you.”

“You’re never a bother, Penelope!” He says, glancing over to me and resting his hand on mine. He starts to laugh and says, “My partner Phil, gave me a lot of shit about texting you so much.”

“It wasn’t that much.” I roll my eyes.

“It is, when I don’t usually stay in communication with anyone, while we’re on a case.” He says, removing his hand from mine and putting it back on the steering wheel to make a left turn.

“Yeah, the girls gave me some grief when you texted during girl’s night.”

“Sorry about that. I just wanted you to know that I was okay.”

“Don’t apologize, its fine, I appreciated it.” I say, resting my hand on the crook of his arm, where his hand rests on his thigh.

Luke nods. “So, how was it? You don’t look hungover.” He says, glancing at me before turning his eyes back to the road.

“It was so much fun! We danced, we sang, we had some girl talk, I couldn’t ask for a better night. I only had one drink the whole night.”

“So who are your girls?”

“Well last night, it was JJ, Ivonne; Raphie’s wife and Roberta; she works at the animal shelter.”

“That sounds nice.”

“Oh, it was!”

We’ve arrived at the Farmers Market and Luke’s not fast enough to get around and open my door for me, which earns me a scowl. I take Roxy’s leash from his hand, giving him a smile, and we start on our way. We get everything we need, plus a giant cookie at the end, that Luke and I eat together. We get everything loaded in the truck and head back to Emilio’s. Luke helps me unload my things, then runs his stuff home. We sit in the sun talking, cutting flowers and just enjoying each other’s company. I’ve finished the flowers and Roxy has her head hooked onto my leg with her eyes closed as I pet her. “I don’t want to disturb her, but I need to put these flowers away.”

“Stay there, I’ll get them.” Luke says, standing up and grabbing the 2 trays of flowers.

“Put them in the cooler, please.” Luke nods and heads inside. He returns a couple minutes later with another coffee. “Thank you.” I say, looking up from Roxy. He smiles at me over the rim of his cup. “How can you drink so much hot coffee in the summer?” He shrugs, I laugh and say “When I drink hot coffee in the summer, it makes me hotter. That doesn’t happen to you?”

“I didn’t think you could get hotter.” Luke says, not missing a beat. He opens his eyes a little wider and mumbles. “No, I think I’m just used to it.” And looks away. I smile and shrug, turning my attention back to Roxy and letting him get over his embarrassment for a few minutes.

After a little while, we take Roxy home, we hang out and he makes me lunch. We head back to the coffee shop so I can get some baking done. Luke helps where he can, asking questions along the way. Once, we’re done prepping and putting everything away, Luke and I come to the compromise of washing the dishes together.

“Those cookies you sent me on the road with, were really good.” Luke says, handing over a soapy mixing bowl for me to rinse.

“Good, glad you liked them.”

“Yeah. I gave Phil one the first night and wouldn’t share anymore with him. He got so pissed at me.”

I laugh, saying “I sent you with a half dozen cookies and you only gave him one? Luke!” I playfully admonish.

“He got over it.” Luke waves me off. “Besides, I’m not good at sharing.” Luke says, looking me up and down. I’m staring into his eyes, when I hear my name being called behind me. I turn around with dripping hands and Luke hands me the towel sitting beside the sink next to him.

“Carlos, what are you doing here?”

“What I can’t stop by to see my sister and to see how my business is doing?” Carlos asks, walking over to me.

I dry my hands and set the towel down on the center counter, walking over to Carlos.

“I’m doing good” I say, giving Carlos a hug.

“I had a plumbing job a few blocks away, I thought I’d stop by and see if you wanted to go out to dinner.”

“Oh, well, I still have some dishes to wash, before I can leave. Give me 20 minutes. Why don’t you go out front and get a drink, while I finish up. 

At that, Luke walks over to me drying his hands. “Hi, I’m Luke.” He says extending his hand to Carlos.

“Carlos.” He says, shaking Luke’s hand. “I didn’t know we had a new hire.” Carlos says to me.

“We don’t, he’s not, he doesn’t work here. Carlos, this is my friend. He lives in the neighborhood.”

“And you’re putting him to work, sis. Damn!” Carlos exclaims.

“No, he was just hanging out, keeping me company, but he insists on helping out, despite my protests.” I send a pointed look at Luke.

Luke smiles touches my arm and says “Go ahead to dinner with your brother. I’ll finish up here, there’s not much left.”

“I’m not gonna leave you here to finish my work.”

“I offered, it’s fine.”

“I know you did and I said no.” I say.

Carlos breaks in and says “Why don’t you both go and finish, you guys are wasting time arguing and I’m hungry. Then we can all go out to dinner.”

“I don’t, you don’t have to invite me along. You two should have your time together.”

“It’s fine. Right, sis?”

“Yep! Now come on.” I say, looping my arm through his and leading him back to the sink. “let’s finish these dishes.” We quietly work for a couple minutes before Luke says “I don’t have to join you guys for dinner, I can make up an excuse not to go.”

“Do you not want to go?” I ask, not looking at him.

“I want to go, believe me, I want to get to know your family. I just don’t want to interfere with your time with your brother.”

I wave him off, touching his bare forearm with my wet hand, saying. “It really is fine. This is what Carlos does every few weeks, he pops in and we go out to eat. Sometimes his timing works out and sometimes it doesn’t, but believe me, there’ll be plenty more opportunities. Now, what do you want to do?” I ask.

“I want to spend more time with you while I’m home and I would like to get to know your brother.”

“Okay.” I say, removing my hand. “Let’s finish up these dishes and get going.”

Luke smiles down at me and soaps up a rubber spatula, handing it over. I accept it, with a smile of my own. We’ve finished the dishes and Luke holds the swinging door for me, allowing me to go first. Carlos is chatting with Mario when we come through. He finishes his conversation, shaking Mario’s hand, turns to us and asks, “you ready?”

We agree to all ride together in Carlos’s car. Luke opens the front passenger door and motions for me to get in. “It makes the most sense for you to sit in the front.” I say, “you’re taller.”

“Not gonna happen.” Luke shakes his head.

“Would everybody just get in the damn car, so I don’t have to resort to cannibalism.” Carlos, says, dramatically. Luke raises an eyebrow at me, I huff, roll my eyes and take a seat in the front. Luke closes the door and Carlos says. “Thank you!” Luke gets in the backseat, I turn around and scowl at him and he squeezes my shoulder smiling at me, before dropping his hand and sitting back in his seat.

We end up at the same diner we always go to. Luke and I sit on one side of the booth, while Carlos sits on the other. We tell Carlos the story of the overly friendly waitress and he tells Luke embarrassing stories from our childhood. He starts to talk about my stellar computer skills and I start shaking my head and he continues on. “Carlos!” I eventually snap, he catches on to what he was saying and apologizes. Luke looks between us, trying to piece it together, but doesn’t say anything. Luke breaks the tension that has settled over the table by telling Carlos about how Roxy likes me more than him these days. The meal ends and Carlos drives us back to the coffee shop and drops us off. Luke is walking me to my car in silence and I ask “So, I’m guessing you want to know, what’s the big secret around my computer knowledge.”

“Only if you want to tell me.” Luke says.

“I probably should.” I say, taking a deep breath.

“Do you want to come to my house?” I nod. We walk over in silence. Roxy greets me when we walk in, I give her some love and walk over to the couch. “Can I get you anything? Tea, water, sparkling water beer?”

“I want to say beer, but I shouldn’t. Tea, please.”

Luke goes to the kitchen to get us drinks and Roxy curls up at my feet. I take some deep breaths and think through how to tell Luke this.

Luke walks back in and says “I made you tea, but I also brought you a beer, in case you change your mind.”

“Thanks.” I say, accepting the tea. Luke sets one bottle of beer on the table and opens the other, settling himself down on the couch.

“So, you remember, how I told you that I kind of lost it when my parents died?” I ask, looking up. He nods. “I dropped out of Cal Tech and got involved with this guy who prayed on my loss. I’ve always been good with computer coding, but Shane convinced me to use my skills to become a hacker.” I say, staring at my tea. “He convinced me that I was doing the right thing. I was hacking into companies that were involved in illegal activities and was putting the evidence on the home page of their websites. Long story short, the F.B.I. caught me. They gave me the choice between working for them as a technical analyst or going to jail.” At this point tears are running down my face. I chance a look at Luke and he’s looking at me with a furrowed brow. I drink some more tea, take a deep breath and continue. “I called their bluff and chose the option of jail. I served 3 months before my trial. Luckily, I had a really sympathetic judge who took the death of my parents and the fact that I had no criminal history into account. He gave me 10 years probation, with the conditions that I wouldn’t have any contact with Shane and my computer use was monitored. That ended 2 years ago and my record was sealed.”

I look back up at Luke and ask “So?”

“Wow, that’s a lot to take in.”

“I know, I’m sorry I didn’t say anything earlier.” I cut him off.

He says. “You’re the Penelope Garcia. I’ve heard stories about you, you’re a legend around the F.B.I.. Aaron Hotchner speaks fondly of you.”

My eyes grow wide and I stutter out “What?”

“I’ve heard that he was mad that you didn’t take his offer and that he’d make another offer in a heartbeat.”

“Huh.” I say, grabbing the beer from the coffee table and sitting back. “So, how do you feel about all this?”

“I appreciate you telling me.” Luke shrugs “Everyone has a past. I’ve done somethings that I’m not proud of. I guess in a way those experiences; good and bad; shape us into who we are. And, I gotta say, I’m pretty happy with who you are.” Luke smiles at me, I duck my head.

We sit and talk for a while longer, before I say, “I should be getting home, it’s late.”

“Yeah, it’s late, you shouldn’t be going anywhere. Why don’t you stay the night?”

“I don’t know…”I say skeptically.

“If you want to go home. I’ll drive you.”

“But then my car would be stuck at the shop.”

“I can come pick you up tomorrow morning and take you to work.”

“That seems like asking too much.”

Luke scoots closer to me and puts his hand on my arm. “Look, you’re welcome to spend the night. But if you want to go home, I have no problem dropping you off tonight and picking you up tomorrow. I see a lot and know a lot that I wish I didn’t, I know what the world is like out there in a way that most people don’t. I just want to keep you safe.”

I stare into his eyes and nod “Okay, I’ll stay the night. Thanks Luke.”

“No problem.” He says, squeezing my arm. “Thank you. Are you ready for bed now, or do you want to stay up a bit longer?”

“I am tired, but how about we get you to sleep first.”

“You don’t have to. If you’re tired, go to bed, I’ll manage.”

“Did you get any sleep when you got in this morning?”

“No, I did some grocery shopping and got some stuff done around the house.”

“How did you sleep while you were gone?”

“I got an hour here and there.”

“Exactly, let’s get you to sleep.” I say, standing and extending my hand. Luke takes my hand and we walk upstairs. “You go get ready. I’ll grab my book and meet you in your room.” I say as we part ways at the top of the steps.

I return a few minutes later with my book and Luke is laying shirtless, with the sheet pulled up over his lower half, laying more towards the center of the bed. I sit in the bed next to him and ask, “ready?” He nods and mumbles a thank you. I turn back to where we left off and start to read. My hand goes to his head, running my fingers through his curls that are starting to form, now that it’s grown out. He relaxes quicker and falls asleep within 10 minutes, I continue what I’m doing for a while longer. After a while I sit and read to myself, staying close by in case he wakes up. I slowly get up and head to the guest room and the alarm clock says it’s a little after 11. I grab my bag and head to his en suite bathroom. I use the bathroom, take my makeup off and put my hair up in a ponytail. I’ve just opened the door to the bathroom and am walking out, I stop and take one more look at Luke as I pass, making sure he’s still out. He’s kicked the sheets down his legs and I see he decided to strip down tonight. He’s lying there spread eagle in nothing but his boxer briefs. I stand frozen and run my eyes over his very impressive package for longer than I should before I come back to myself and go to the guest room. I strip down to my tank top and underwear and get in bed.

I hear yelling coming from somewhere and I startle awake. I fly out of bed and check on Luke. He’s yelling something in another language and there are tears streaming down his face. I sit on the bed and run my fingers through his hair, shushing him and telling him, I’m here. He quiets and settles down again. My heart is racing. I sit there for a while, I look over to the alarm clock and it’s 2:45. Once I know he’s sleeping again, I have an internal debate. I could go back to my bed and possibly be back again later in the morning or just sleep in here so that I’m right here to deal with it in the moment. I finally decide to just stay put. I lay down facing him and work on relaxing my body again. Before I know it, I’m dozing again.

I hear my name being called quietly and flutter my eyes open. It’s Luke, still laying in bed beside me. We’re both on our sides facing each other and Luke is running his hand up and down my bare arm. I smile at him and hum in acknowledgement.

“What are you doing in here? You didn’t want to sleep in the guest room?”

“I started out there…” I trail off.

Luke drops his hand from my arm and asks. “I had a night terror?”

“Yeah, about 2:30.”

“I’m sorry.” He says rolling to his back and looking up at the ceiling.

“It’s fine, I just decided to stay in case you needed my magical fingers again.” I say wiggling my fingers and running them through his hair for a minute. “I don’t mind, besides your bed is much more comfortable than the one in the guest room.”

He smiles and rolls over to his side again. “I guess I shouldn’t have stripped, he says looking down at himself, before probably spotting my bare leg just inches from his. He drags his eyes over my legs, my panties, the little peek of stomach skin, up my tank top and back to my eyes. I’m bright red now, from his attention and the look in his eyes when he looks me in mine. “I’m sorry.” He says, I didn’t realize you weren’t wearing much either. I hope I didn’t make you uncomfortable.”

My blush is fading and I say “Nope. I’m good. What time is it?”

“It’s a little after 5. I didn’t know when you needed to open the shop.”

“6, I’ve got some time. How long did you sleep?”

“About 6 hours. I woke up just before I woke you.”

“How did you sleep?”

“Really good. You keep spoiling me like this; with 6 good hours of sleep; and you’re gonna have to stay forever.” He chuckles. I smile back at him.

We lay in bed talking quietly for a little longer until Luke entices me out of bed with the promise of an omelet. Luke gets up first and I pretend I don’t see the adjustment he makes to his crotch before he heads to the bathroom. 

I lay in bed for a while longer. Luke emerges from his closet fully dressed as I’m enjoying a full body stretch, I hear him laughing at me, before he leaves the room. I gather my clothes and my bag from the guest room and head to the bathroom. I get to the kitchen just as Luke is sliding an omelet onto a plate. He slides it across the counter, next to a bowl of blueberries. “This is for you.” He motions with a smile, before cracking 2 more eggs and making his own breakfast.

Over the next month, we continue with our mutual unspoken agreement to try to spend as much time together as we can when Luke’s at home. We spent time at his house and the café. He’s gone away for a few days here and there. When he’s away we continue to text.

He’s stopped fighting me for the most part about his sleep. Sometimes I sit with him during the day while he sleeps and sometimes it’s overnight. His sleep issues are by no means solved, sometimes having me there is enough to sooth him back to sleep and others, me being there makes no difference and he startles awake with tears in his eyes that I pretend I don’t see.

I’ve finally decided that I can depend on him. I don’t have to do it all alone. He’s a man of his word, he does what he says he’s going to do. We don’t have to argue every time he offers to help.

It’s Friday night after closing up Emilio’s, I’m at Luke’s house. He’s making vegetarian lasagna. The alarm goes off and I pull it out of the oven, setting it on the trivet to cool.

“Do you want to sit out on the patio or in the dining room?” Luke asks, coming back in from taking a phone call from Phil.

“The patio. We might as well enjoy the nice weather while we have it.” I smile. Luke grabs dishes from the cabinet and heads outside to set the table. I slice the bread and take the Brussels sprouts out of the oven. Luke comes back in and grabs silverware and serving utensils.

“Wine, beer, sparkling water?”

“Wine, we can finish that bottle of red from the other day.” I say, looking over my shoulder at him. He walks to the fridge and grabs the wine as well as 2 wine glasses and heads back outside. I transfer the Brussels sprouts to a bowl as well as the bread and I carry the both of them outside, I give Luke a smile as we pass on his way to get the lasagna. Luke serves up a portion of lasagna on each of our plates and we both take some Brussels sprouts and some bread.

We both take a forkful of lasagna “Moment of truth.” Luke says he holds his fork up and we clink them together. We both put a forkful in our mouths.

I give him an immediate thumbs up “This is really good, Luke. You did a great job!”

“All I had to do was follow your directions.”

“You’d be surprised how difficult that is for some, people still screw up recipes from a cookbook. Don’t sell yourself short, you did a great job!” I say, eating some more lasagna.

“Thank you,” Luke says, ducking his head. “It’s actually really good, I was skeptical about how good it could be, you know, without meat.”

“See, I told you!”

We talk and enjoy light conversation for a while before I have to ask the question that’s been hanging over us. “So, you gonna tell me what Phil wanted? Are you leaving tonight?”

“No.” Luke says taking a deep breath. “Remember when I came to you a few months ago and told you that we were having some trouble on a case, we trusted someone we shouldn’t have and we needed to find a new angle?” I nod. “We think we found one. He just wanted to talk through logistics tonight.”

“Okay, what does that mean?”

“It means that I’ll be leaving next week to go undercover, for a couple of months, possibly more.”

“What?” I couldn’t possibly have heard what I thought I heard. “Why do you have to go?”

“It has to be me. They need someone who’s a native Spanish speaker. Phil is pretty good, but he’s not a native, he totally offered to go in instead, but we both knew it wouldn’t work. I’m sorry, Penelope.”

I look up to the sky and rapidly blink, trying to keep from crying. I don’t want Luke to ever feel bad about the job he does. “So, when do you leave, next week?” I ask, looking at him, finally.

“Probably the middle of the week.”

“Then I guess we better make the most of the next few days.” I put on a fake smile. We finish the rest of our dinner with stilted conversation and awkward silences.

“Why don’t you go watch some tv, read or take a bath? Do something to help yourself relax, because I know you’re moments away from tears that I’m sure you don’t want me to see. For the record though, I would be fine if you cried on my shoulder. I’ll work on cleaning up and give you some time.”

“Thanks Luke.” I say, standing from the table. “I think I’ll go take a bubble bath.” Luke pulls me in for a quick hug and kisses my forehead before releasing me.

The tears start before I even get in the bath. I’ve barely made it up the stairs before I’m a horrible sobbing mess. I lock myself in the bathroom and hope that the sound of the running water drowns out my crying.

I sit in the bath, thinking about how selfish I’m being. Luke is out there putting his life on the line to put away criminals who have done horrible things, all to keep me and everyone else safe. You made a vow to yourself that you would never make him feel bad for what he does and I intend to keep it. So, get your crying out and suck it up. You’re going to make sure you enjoy the days you have left, before he leaves.

After 45 minutes of off and on crying, my bath is turning cold. I get out, wash my face and use some eye drops. I wrap myself in a towel and open the door to the bathroom. Luke is laying in bed, reading. He looks up and smiles at me. I return his smile and go into his walk-in closet, putting on one of his button down shirts, I guess I’ll just have to go commando until I get to the guest room.

“Will you come lay with me?” Luke asks, when I come out of the closet. He’s bare chested and has the sheet pulled up to his waist. I suppose I can lay with him for a little while before I go to my room. It’s not often that Luke requests affection.

“Sure.” I say, walking to the bed, climbing in carefully and getting under the covers. Luke pulls me to him, so that my head is resting on his chest. He runs a hand up and down my arm.

“I’m sorry.” He says, after a few minutes of lying there.

“No!” I say. “You have no reason to be sorry.”

“I do, I….”

I cut him off saying “You don’t. You have no control over the evil acts that criminals decide to pull off. You are the good guy that goes out and makes sure that they’re punished.” I smile. “You’re a hero!”

Luke is quiet for a while, continuing to stroke my arm.

“I’ve never dreaded going undercover before.” He admits in a low voice. “I know that if something were to happen to me, that my mom and my grandma would be sad, but they made peace with the possibility of losing me a long time ago. I know that Roxy would miss me to a certain extent. I just never thought, never intended to ever add anyone else to that list and somehow it happened.” It takes all of my resolve not to break down at that, but I hold strong. “I’m sorry that I did this to you. Put you in this position to be left behind, worrying about me.”

“You didn’t do anything to me that I wasn’t a willing participant in, Luke. Independent woman, remember?”

“Oh yeah, how could I forget, that’s what our first disagreement was about.”

“If I remember correct, you said you love an independent woman.”

“I do.” He whispers.

I try not to think about the fact that it kind of just felt like he admitted he loves me. I try not to overthink it and just enjoy the moment. This is probably only the third or fourth time we’ve cuddled. At least once on the couch, trying to relax after Luke came home from a particularly bad case and once in bed after Luke woke up from a nightmare that left him shaking for a long time after.

I lay there cuddled up on Luke’s shoulder, listening to the rhythm of his heart, while he continues to run his hand up and down my arm. Before I know it, I’m asleep. I wake up and it’s still dark out, but the birds are chirping, we’re both on our sides facing each other and Luke’s arm is around my waist. I can feel that my shirt has ridden up. Of course the blanket is at the bottom of the bed, Luke always kicks it off in his sleep. I don’t dare move to adjust my shirt, my hard and fast rule has always been, ‘If Luke is asleep, let him be,’ everything can wait. I close my eyes and go back to sleep. The next time I awaken the sun is streaming through the curtains and I’m in bed alone, with the sheet pulled up to my waist. Great, I’m almost positive that Luke saw my butt…and maybe more.

I get out of bed, slip on a pair of underwear and go in search of Luke. I finally find him in the last place I look, he’s on the patio, wearing basketball shorts and nothing else, talking on the phone.

“I don’t know if she’ll be able to come. She has a business to run.” He looks over to the door, smiles at me, and motions me over. “I’ll ask her Ma. Yeah, I’ll let you know. Okay. Give Grandma a kiss for me. Love you. Bye”

I sit in the patio chair next to him and we sit in silence for a bit. “how did you sleep?” I ask.

“Pretty good. I got a little over 5 hours, I’ve only been up for about a half an hour. You?”

“Really good.”

“That was my mom on the phone. I called her to tell her about my mission next week. She wants me, well, us to come up for the weekend. I know you have a business to run and I told her I didn’t know if I or we could make it. I told her, I’d let her know.”

“I’ve got 4 brothers, I’ll see what I can do about getting them to cover for me.”

“You sure?” Yeah, I don’t want to be the reason you don’t visit your mom and I have a feeling that if I don’t go, you won’t go.” Luke ducks his head at that. “Come on, lets go to the Farmers Market earlier, so that I can get the baking done. I’ll call my brothers later, they’ll kill me if I call to early on a Saturday.”

By 1:00, we’ve been to the Farmer’s Market, gotten the baking done and have stopped at my place to pack a bag. We’re all loaded in the car, Roxy included and are on our way to New York in Luke’s truck.

My brothers were more than willing to cover for me. They can be pains in the ass sometimes, but they step up when it’s important to me. We’ll get in about 8 or so and Luke’s mom has assured us that she’ll have a late dinner waiting for us.

We’ve brought along some muffins and cookies that Luke helped to bake and a bouquet of flowers we picked up at the Farmers Market, all safely stowed in the back. We were singing along to the radio, but right now, absolutely no station is playing anything good.

“How do you feel about going home for this visit?”

“I don’t know, I’m excited to see Ma and Grandma, it’s been awhile. I’m also nervous because it’s been a while.” He laughs. “I’m afraid my mom will get the wrong idea about us and with that wrong idea will come a load of issues.”

“What do you mean?”

“She’s gonna assume we’re together, no matter how many times anyone tells her different. She always wanted me to end up with a Latina woman. So, I apologize in advance for anything she might say or insinuate.”

“It’s fine, I have a pretty thick skin built up around….” Luke glances over at me. “I grew up the only white girl in a Hispanic family. I picked up Spanish pretty quickly from my brothers and stepfather. A few members of my dad’s family were not happy that he had married a white woman and brought this blonde haired, blue eyed white girl into the family. I heard them talk amongst themselves, thinking I couldn’t understand. So, believe me, I’ve heard it all.”

“Penelope, I’m sorry. I had no idea.”

“It’s in the past, just know that I’m tougher than I look.”

“Oh, I already know that.” Luke says, smiling at me. ¿Hablas español?”

“Un poco. I didn’t learn to speak much, but I can understand.” I say.

“Okay, Chica.” Luke’s smile widens.

“Anything I should know before we get there?”

“As I said before, my mother is very traditional, she won’t let us sleep in the same room. Not that we do it much, but I guess I’m on my own for sleeping…or not sleeping more like it.”

“We’ll see.” I say. 

We’re halfway through the ride, Roxy lays her chin on my shoulder and blinks at me. “You bored, huh, girl. I know long car rides will do it to you. When we stop up ahead we’ll let you get out and run around.” I say, petting her head. Luke looks over and smiles.

“I love the way you love my dog.” Luke says sincerely. I smile back at him.

We finally stop at the pit stop, there’s a diner with an open field behind. Luke insists that I go in and get the food. I order our food to go and watch Luke and Roxy run around and play fetch together. I'm so engrossed in watching them that I don’t hear my name being called. The waitress is standing in front of me with our food all packed up.

“Sorry, I guess I wasn’t paying attention.” I say taking the bag from her.

“No worries. Nice family you got there" she says.

“Thanks.” I answer back before going out to join them. Roxy immediately runs up to me wagging her tail and Luke takes the bag from my hand. I crouch down and hug and pet Roxy. “Looks like you had a good time.” I say to her. “Do you want to eat in the car or on the picnic tables?” I ask Luke.

“The picnic tables, that way Roxy can roam around and stretch her legs a little more.”

We eat quickly, so we don’t lose too much time. I'm halfway through my meal by the time Luke has finished his. Luke throws his garbage out and we head back to the car. I finish my food at a more leisurely pace, Luke bums a fry from me every now and then.

The sun has just about set, by the time we’re pulling into the driveway. I get out and open the door for Roxy, Luke grabs our overnight bags and the boxed baked goods from the trunk. I grab the flowers and the cooler containing Roxy’s food. By the time we make it to the door, it flies open.

“Oh Luke, you made it! You’re later than you said you'd be.”

“We stopped to let Roxy stretch her legs.” Luke says, motioning for me to go ahead of him. “Ma, this is Penelope, Penelope this is my mom Maria Alvez.” Luke says, closing the door behind us.

“Nice to meet you.” I nod in acknowledgement.

“Nice to meet you too, dear.” She says with an air of disappointment. “Luke, I thought you said her last name was Garcia.”

“It is Ma.” Luke says, shaking his head.

“My stepdad's last name was Garcia.” I say in clarification.

Maria nods in acknowledgement.

“Where should I put Penelope’s stuff?” Luke asks.

“You two are not sleeping together under this roof.” Maria starts.

“I know Ma, that's why I'm asking where you want me to put her stuff. “

“You sassin' me boy?”

“No Ma.” Luke says. “I’ll just take our stuff upstairs.” I give him a sympathetic look before turning to Maria.

“Mrs. Alvez, we brought you a few things. Here’s some flowers we picked up from the Farmers Market” I say, handing the bouquet over to her. We also brought you some cookies and muffins that Luke and I made together.”

“My boy is baking now, huh?”

“Yes, ma’am, he helps me and he’s getting pretty good.” I beam, proudly.

Luke comes back downstairs carrying the bakery boxes. “What did you make Ma? Smells good.” He asks, kissing her on the cheek.

“Come on to the kitchen and I'll show you.”

I take out Roxy’s dinner and give it to her while Luke grabs 2 plates and heads over to the stove.

“Shouldn’t she be doing that?” She asks, looking pointedly at me.

“No Ma, I'm fine.” Luke says.

“Hm.” Maria hums.

Luke brings the plates over and sets them on the table. He puts Roxy’s other meals in the fridge and grabs us drinks. He comes back to the table and sits down next to me. I loop my arm around his, lay my head on his arm and say, “thank you.”

“You’re welcome" he smiles at me. I let go of his arm and we start to eat. His plate is piled high with food and mine has significantly less.

“You don’t like Latin food?” Maria asks.

“I love it!” I counter.

“How come you didn’t get more food?”

“I'm vegetarian, I'm sure Luke got me what he could.” I say, resting my hand on his arm. “This’ll be enough for me. I do love plantains.”

I eat most of my food and Luke hands over a few of his plantains. I smile at him in thanks. Luke’s mom watches us like a hawk.

We finish and Luke takes both our dishes to the sink. Luke turns on the water and Maria says, “I can get those in a little while.”

“I got it Ma, why don’t you show Penelope which room she'll be in. I left her bag in my room because I wasn’t sure where you wanted her. I'll be up in a few minutes.”

Maria nods and says, “Come on.” Motioning to me. I squeeze Luke’s shoulder on the way out of the kitchen and he turns and smiles at me. “Luke’s room is up on the third floor, I think I'll put you on the second with me, so I know there's no funny business.”

“I promise, there is no funny business. Luke and I aren’t together, we’re just friends.”

“He let it slip this morning that you slept at his house.” Maria says, showing me to a bedroom.

“I do, sometimes, but it's totally innocent. Luke’s kind of protective and doesn’t like me to drive home too late. He has a guest room.” She doesn’t have to know that I don’t always use the guest room or that Luke and I fell asleep last night with him in his underwear and me naked from the waist down.

“Is everything okay?” Luke asks, coming into the room.

“I was just reminding your girlfriend here” Maria motions to me “that there will be no funny business.”

“She's not my girlfriend Ma and yes, there will be none of that.” Luke sends a tight-lipped smile at his mother. “Why don’t you go to bed Ma, sorry to keep you up. Thanks for dinner. I'll show Penelope around, get some sheets for her bed and get her settled in.” Luke says, putting his arm around his mom.

“Yeah, okay.” She says eyeing me up and down. “I’m really glad you decided to come visit, even if is only for the weekend, Luke.” She gushes, hugging him.

“Me too, Ma. See you tomorrow. I can make omelets tomorrow for breakfast.” Luke smiles proudly.

“No.” Maria says patting his cheek. “Goodnight.”

Luke’s face falls and he mumbles “Goodnight Ma.”

Maria crosses the hall to her bedroom as I cross the room to Luke. Once she’s shut the door to her room, I engulf him in a hug. “I'm sorry.” I mumble.

“It's fine.” He says out of habit. “Let’s go upstairs and get your bag first, I'll show you my room.” Luke says pulling back. Luke leads me upstairs and I look around. There are kid’s drawings still on the wall, honor roll certificates, science fair trophies and football trophies, it's like getting a peek into Luke’s childhood. 

“You were adorable in high school. OMG!”

Luke just shakes his head at me. I continue to look around and come across a section with post cards and photos. I look closer at what is probably a very young Luke with a pyramid in the distance behind him.

“Is this you?” I ask.

“Yeah.” Luke says, coming to stand beside me.

“You've visited the Great Pyramids?” I ask in awe.

Luke smiles and says, “let’s get you set for bed tonight, it's getting late. You can come back and look at those photos tomorrow.”

“Okay.” I nod with a smile. Luke walks over and picks up my bag, heading back downstairs, I follow.

“Here's the bathroom down here.” Luke points. “And here's the linen closet.” He says opening the door and taking out a sheet set. He hands them over to me and grabs a towel and washcloth. We go back into my room and make up the bed.

“So, are you gonna try to sleep tonight?”

“Probably not.” Luke shrugs.

“Luke!”

“What? I slept for over 5 hours. I still feel pretty good.”

“5 hours is not meant to last you days.” I put down the pillow and walk over to him, putting my hand on his arm. “Please, at least try?”

Luke ducks his head and says “What if I have a nightmare and wake the whole house up?”

“I'm used to it and she’s your mother, she should understand.”

“I'm really not tired. How about I agree to lay down and rest for a while? Deal?”

“Okay, I guess I can agree to that.” I say with an eye roll and a smile.

“I'll go take Roxy out for a walk and bring her up to sleep with you. If you'd like.”

“Of course, I would.”

“See you in a little bit.”

I rummage through my bag for my pajama shorts and makeup remover before heading for the bathroom. I take care of my nightly routine and head back to my room, opening the window to get some cool air in and sit in bed reading. Luke and Roxy come in a few minutes later.

“Come on girl.” I say, patting the spot next to me on the bed. Despite Roxy’s wagging tail, she stays put and looks at Luke.

“Go ahead, it's okay Roxy.” Luke says. Roxy doesn’t wait for more and jumps onto the bed. “Only when we’re here.” Luke continues. Once Roxy and I are settled Luke rubs Roxy’s head one last time, leaning over me. He stands up straighter and looks down at me. He wipes my bangs back from my forehead and rakes his fingers through the hair at the top of my head, I close my eyes enjoying the sensation, next thing I feel is a kiss on my forehead. I open my eyes and see Luke standing back upright.

“Goodnight my girls.” Luke says, before walking to the door.

“Goodnight.” I say as he turns off the lights and shuts the door to a crack.

The next morning, it’s 4 a.m. and I’m wide awake. It seems too early to start my day and go downstairs. I decide to go upstairs to Luke’s room, thinking he’s definitely awake. Luke’s door creaks as I open it a bit more and slip in, shutting the door behind me. To my shock, he’s sleeping. Now I have to decide what the least disruptive option is, do I leave through the creaky door or gently climb in bed with him. I stand there and debate for a couple minutes until I hear Luke say, “you gonna come and join me, or just stand there?”

“I thought you were asleep.” I say, walking over to the bed.

“I was, until the door creaked.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you.” I say, climbing into the bed.

“It’s fine.” Luke says, wrapping his arm around my waist, pulling me closer. “I think I got a couple hours and at least I didn’t wake with a nightmare.”

I snuggle into Luke’s bare chest and say, “your mother’s gonna kill us, if she catches us like this.”

Luke shrugs. “We got clothes on.”

“I’ve got clothes on, you’re in your underwear.” I counter.

“Do I make you uncomfortable, cuddling with you in my underwear?”

“No, I already told you it’s fine.” I reach up and run my fingers through the back of his hair.

“I’ll deal with her if I have to. I just want to enjoy my time I have with you.” He says, pulling me closer so that our bodies are pressed together. I snuggle in.

I must fall back asleep, because next I know, I’m waking up in bed alone. I get up and cautiously head back to my room. Roxy’s gone and the door is pulled closed. I grab some clothes and head to the bathroom, getting ready for the day. When I leave the bathroom, I hear voices downstairs. I put my things back in my room, grab my cell phone, take a deep breath and go downstairs. I follow the voices to the kitchen.

“Good morning, everyone.” I say as I enter.

“Good morning, dear.” An older lady says to me.

“Good morning, Chica.” Luke says, smiling, walking over to me. “Grandma, this is Penelope. Penelope, this is my Grandma, Juanita Ramos.”

“Nice to meet you, Miss Ramos.” I say, walking over to her and extending my hand.

“Nice to meet you too.” She says, standing and wrapping her arms around me. She releases me and sits back down. “Sit down dear.” She says, touching the seat next to her. I sit down and she says. “So good to finally meet you, I’ve heard so much about you. Tell me about yourself?”

“What would you like to know?” I ask. Luke slides a plate of food in front of me, I smile in thanks.

“Luke tells me you own a coffee shop in his neighborhood, how did that come about?”

“It’s called Emilio’s, it’s named after my father.”

“You mean, your stepfather, right?” Maria asks, emphasizing the step part.

“Yeah, my stepfather. He raised me like I was his own and there was never a distinction between me and his own children. I don’t really think of him as my stepfather, he was just my dad.” Luke slides a cup of coffee in front of me and squeezes my shoulder, giving me a kiss on the head. I turn back to Juanita and I catch her glaring at Maria before turning her attention back to me. “He owned it for years, I grew up there. My parents passed away years ago, now me and my brothers run it. I do more of the day to day stuff and they each have different things they do for the business.” I finish, eating a bite of eggs.

“I’m sorry for your loss, dear.”

“Thank you.” I say, eating some blueberries. 

“Luke tells me, we have you to thank for these delicious muffins.”

“Oh, well we baked them together.” I say, smiling at Luke.

“Luke didn’t tell me that.” She says, looking at him. He ducks his head, looking almost ashamed. “Well, good for you, teaching my boy some skills.” Luke whips his head up and looks at his grandma.

“He’s also been learning to cook. Omelets and grilled cheese seem to be his specialty.” I wink at him. “He’s made rice and beans, veggie stir fry and just the other day he made me roasted Brussels sprouts and Vegetarian lasagna. He’s shaping up to be a really good cook.” I beam at him, picking up my muffin and taking a bite.

“What’s this Luke? That’s not the man I raised you to be. Cooking, baking muffins and cookies, washing dishes, serving a woman. I don’t know what’s happened to you, son, but you need to man up. Your father would be disappointed.”

Luke looks at me, shoots up and mumbles “I gotta go to the bathroom, excuse me.”

I glare at Maria, trying to compose myself before I explode, saying something I really shouldn’t say to Luke’s mom.

“Maria!” Juanita snaps. “What is wrong with you? We’re finally getting our sweet Luke back and this is how you react. We all know that we thought we lost him after he came back. He either spent his time in his room sleeping for days on end or throwing and breaking things. Remember how hard that was? Luke seems genuinely happy again for the first time in years and this is how you react? Shame on you. He’ll stay away a lot longer now, because of you, if he ever comes back. I’m gonna go talk to him.”

I touch her hand and say, “Let me, please.” Juanita nods and I walk up to the third floor. I push his door open and Luke quickly wipes his eyes and sniffs. He’s sitting on the edge of the bed, petting Roxy. “Hey.” I say, shutting the door behind myself, he doesn’t look up. I sit on the bed beside him and rub his back, resting my head on his arm. “You okay?”

“I will be.” He sniffs. “I’m sorry you had to be here for that and for the way she’s been treating you, I should have never made you come.”

“You didn’t make me do anything. Remember, independent woman?”

“Oh yeah, how could I forget.” He lets out a short chuckle. “I don’t know why I thought this visit would be different. Since my father passed away, his memory has just been magnified in her mind, nothing I do will ever be good enough for her.”

“For the record, I love the man that you are. I’ve never had anyone accept me for me, take interest in my day-to-day boring life and look out for me the way you do. Your Grandma is proud of you too, she told your mom off good. I’m sorry she can’t let herself see just how wonderful you are.”

“Thanks, Penelope.” Luke says, putting his arm around my shoulder and kissing my forehead. “Do you want to take Roxy for a walk? I just want to get away for a while.”

“Sure, anything you want.” I say, standing up.

We walk for a while, until we end up at a park. We sit on a bench while Roxy runs around, chasing squirrels and forcing Luke to play fetch with her.

We’re almost back and Luke says. “I forgot to tell you. Word got out that I was coming to visit, so this is turning into a family Sunday dinner.”

“That’ll be fun.”

“You say that now, we’ll see if you’re still saying that later.” Luke chuckles. 

We get inside the house and Maria is nowhere in sight. We find Juanita in the kitchen starting on dinner.

“Do you want some help?” I ask, moving closer. 

“No, I got it dear. Did you all have a good walk?”

“We did, thank you.” I nod.

“Did Luke tell you that some of the family is coming for dinner?”

“Yes, he told me.”

“Why don’t you all go relax, before this place becomes a mad house?” She laughs.

“Remember, you wanted to see the pictures in my room?” I nod. “Holler if you need anything Grandma.” Luke says giving her a kiss on the cheek.

“I will dear, go on."

We're up in Luke’s room and he shows me tons of photos from his times living overseas as a child. I’m amazed at the places he’s been in his life. I feel a little self-conscious, Luke is so well traveled and I’ve barely left the East Coast other than my time at Cal Tech.

“Do you like to travel?” Luke asks me.

“I would like to. I’ve never really been anywhere.” I say, looking back up at the pictures.

“Maybe someday we can do some traveling. I don’t see myself working for the Fugitive Task Force, forever. Eventually I’d like a more stable job. What about you Penelope? Will you be old and gray, still working at Emilio’s?”

“I don’t know, I love what I do. I wouldn’t want anything to happen to the shop. I do miss working with computers, not illegal hacking,” I assure, “but coding. Sometimes I think about going back to school.”

“You should. Like you said, you have 4 brothers, you’re not the only one responsible for the coffee shop.”

“I know. Going back to school at my age is a little intimidating.”

“It is, but I happen to know you, Penelope Garcia, can do anything!”

We look at photos and Luke tells me stories about his childhood. We're sitting in bed talking when we hear Luke’s door creak, and we look up.

“There you two are. I don’t know what the point of you coming home was if you’re just going to spend it up here with her.”

“When we got back from our walk. Grandma told us we could go until people started to arrive.” Luke says.

“Well, your uncle Guillermo and his kids are here.”

“Sorry, we’ll be down in a few minutes.” Luke says.

“Why not now?”

Luke starts to get up and I put my hand on his arm, keeping him in place. “We just need a few minutes to freshen up, Mrs. Alvez. We'll be down.” I say, staring her in the eyes.

She huffs, slams the door and storms off.

“I'm sorry, I shouldn’t have done that.” I say.

“You do realize I could have still gotten up, even with your hand on my arm, right?” Luke chuckles. “Thanks for having my back.”

“Always!”

“You ready to go meet my family?”

“I am gonna run to the bathroom to freshen up.” I say, grabbing my bag and heading to the bathroom. I fluff my hair and put on a little makeup. I'm applying mascara when Luke comes to stand in the doorway, looking at me through the mirror.

“You know you don’t need any of that, right? You’re beautiful!” I make eye contact through the mirror and I see nothing but sincerity and truth. 

“Thanks.” I breathe.

I continue, maybe applying slightly less makeup. We're ready to go downstairs 10 minutes later. Luke takes my hand as we round the last landing.

“There he is, there's my favorite nephew.”

“I'm your only nephew, Uncle Memo.” Luke laughs, hugging his uncle with one arm, still holding my hand with the other.

Uncle Memo pulls back and looks at me. “Who is this, Luke?”

“This is my friend, Penelope. Penelope this is Uncle Guillermo.”

“Nice to meet you, sir.” I say with a nod.

“Memo, is fine. Nice to meet you as well. Friend you say, huh, Luke?” He says eyeing our joined hands.

“Yup.” Luke says.

“Right.” He nods his head, looking like he doesn’t believe that for a minute. “I brought Gabriela and Jose with me, lucky you came this weekend, Gabriela is heading back to school next weekend.”

“How much longer does she have?” Luke asks.

“Just this year and then she’s done.”

“Wow, I remember when she was the annoying little kid bothering me and my friends.”

“What are you saying about me?” A young lady asks, Luke with her hand on her hip and a smile on her face.

“I was saying, I remember how much of a pain in the butt you were.” She gapes at him and slaps him on the arm. I smile at the exchange.

“Gabriela, this is my friend, Penelope. Penelope, this is my pain in the butt cousin, Gabriela.”

Gabriela sticks her tongue out at Luke, before hugging me, “so nice to meet you.” She says.

“You too.”

“Luis, Ebony and the kids will be by a little later. You know they’re never on time to anything, having to wrangle 5 kids.” Memo says with a laugh.

“5? I remember 4, when did that happen?” Luke asks, in shock.

“They just had number 5 about 3 months ago, a little girl, Jasmine.”

We’ve moved to the living room and are chatting, when a man reeking of a very distinct smoke and not cigarette, walks in. He looks me up and down and licks his lips and I feel like I need a shower. He walks over, sitting on the arm of the love seat that Luke and I are sitting on.

“I’m Jose” He says, extending his hand to me, I put my hand in his and he brings my hand to his lips and kisses it. “Who might you be?” he asks, still holding onto my hand.

I yank my hand back and say, “Penelope, I’m here with Luke.” I scoot a little closer to Luke and he puts his arm around my back, resting his hand on my hip. I rest my arm on his thigh.

“I heard Luke brought a friend home.” He says, emphasizing ‘friend.’ “What’s the matter Luke? Don’t know how to get a girlfriend, since you never had one?” Jose taunts.

“Back off Jose!” Luke says, with more force that I’ve ever heard from him.

“Knock it off, Jose. And get your ass over here.” Memo, says.

While Memo is quietly giving Jose a talking to, Luke whispers in my ear. “You okay?”

“Yeah, just don’t leave my side. He kind of gives me the creeps.”

“Wasn’t planning on it.” Luke says, pulling me closer.

A while later there’s a flurry of activity outside the door, I’m assuming Ebony, Luis and the kids have finally arrived. Luke jumps up to open the door and 3 kids come bursting in. Luis is carrying a car seat and there’s a girl who looks to be about 5 or 6, with French braids down her back, holding her mother’s hand.

“Hi Luis. Hi Ebony. Hi Priya.” Luke says in turn.

“Hey primo.” Luis says, shaking Luke’s hand.

“Hey, Luke. Good to see you.” Ebony says, hugging him with one arm. Priya looks at Luke, half hiding behind her mother. “You remember Luke. We saw him about 9 months ago, he’s got that big dog you fell in love with, remember?” Ebony says.

“Oh, yeah, Hi Luke.” She says in a soft voice. Luke kneels down. “Did you bring Roxy with you this time?”

He smiles. “Yeah, she’s around here somewhere, we’ll go find her in a little bit. Just let me introduce my friend and say hi to your brothers, okay?” he asks, raising his hand for a high five.

“Okay.” She high fives him.

Luke stands back up and says to Ebony. “Here, I can take those.” Taking the diaper bag and backpack off her shoulder.

“Thanks Luke.” She says as they walk fully into the living room.

Priya sees a new face, mine and freezes, hiding behind her mom again. This is my friend Penelope.” Luke announces, I stand and walk over to him. He continues with introductions. “Penelope, this is Ebony and Priya.”

I smile and wave at the pair. “I like your rainbow bolitas at the end of your braids, Priya.” She pulls one of her braids over her shoulder and gives me a shy smile.

“This is Luis.” Luke continues.

“Nice to meet you” Luis says, shaking my hand.

“Those are the twins over there sitting on Uncle Memo’s lap.” He stops and chuckles. “I think that Mateo is on the left and Alejandro is on the right.” He says, sounding unsure.

“Nailed it” Ebony laughs. “You can just call them Matt, and Alex. Matt has a ponytail and Alex has two braids, if you need to tell them apart today.”

“Got it.” I nod.

“And over there, playing with cars on the coffee table is Santiago, we call him Santi.”

“Now can we go find Roxy?” Priya asks.

“I can take those.” Luis says, taking the bags from Luke.

“I think she might be upstairs in Penelope’s room, taking a nap on her bed. Do you want to go check?” Luke asks.

“Yeah, let’s go find her.” Priya says, eyes lighting up.

“I want to come too.” Santi says grabbing his cars and standing up.

“Me too, me too.” Matt and Alex say, climbing down from Memo’s lap.

Matt goes up to Luke and puts his hands up. “Come on, man. You can’t walk?” Luke asks.

“Up.” Matt says. Luke reaches down and picks Matt up. The older two expertly climb the steps, Luke walks behind Alex, climbing up the steps on all fours. 

We’ve all moved back to the living room and Roxy comes running down the steps with Priya and Santi not far behind. Luke is carrying Alex and Matt down the steps, when they reach the bottom, the boys start squirming, wanting to get down. Luke puts them down and they join in playing with Roxy. Luke comes to sit next to me again.

We get word that dinner will be done soon. Ebony and Luis are in the bathroom with the 4 kids, changing diapers, going potty and washing hands. Jasmine is sitting in her car seat, she’s starting to fuss, so I walk over and take her out, sitting back down. She continues to fuss, I turn to Luke and say “I’m gonna go walk her around a little.”

“Okay.”

I’m bouncing her and walking around the dining room, Jasmine has finally fallen asleep, when someone walks in.

“I see the way you look at her. You want a baby? You want **me** to give you a baby, something your boy Luke can’t do?”

“No, not with you.” I snap.

“You know your boys a virgin? He wouldn’t know how to take care of you.”

“Luke does just fine, thanks, but no thanks.” I say, walking to the doorway leading to the kitchen. Jose blocks the way with his body. “You are so lucky I’m holding a baby right now, or you’d be on the ground, now move!” I say.

“You know what? Fine I'm done, you ain’t even that cute.” Jose says walking through the doorway to the kitchen. I follow and am standing in the doorway when I see Luke. He’s angry, I’ve never seen him look like that before. I'm guessing he heard at least the last part of my exchange with Jose.

Jose steps up to Luke and says “What you want, man?”

Luke punches him and Jose falls to the ground. Luke steps over him and stands in front of me. “You okay?” he asks, putting his hand on my shoulder.

“Yeah, I'm okay. I could have taken care of him if I wasn’t holding her.”

“I'm sorry, I was too busy laughing with Gabriela that it took me too long to realize Jose had left the room.” Luke says.

I reach up and run my fingers through the back of his hair, pulling him into a loose hug, being careful of the baby sleeping in my arms. “It's okay, I'm okay.” I whisper in his ear. I can feel he's shaking and I hold onto him while he takes a few deep breaths. By now everyone is gathered in the kitchen watching us. Luckily Luke has his back to them. Memo helps Jose up and leads him out of the kitchen and I continue to soothe Luke. I make eye contact with Gabriela and try to communicate with her to try to clear the room. She gets my message and silently works on that. Once the kitchen is cleared, I take Luke’s hand and lead him up the back stairs. We go in my room and sit down on my bed.

“You sure you’re okay?” Luke asks.

“I'm fine.” I say resting my hand on his arm.

“He didn’t try to touch you, did he?”

“No, he just had some rude things to say.”

“What did he say?” Luke asks, nostrils flaring, getting worked up again. 

“I’ll tell you later. Right now, I need you to calm down so we can join your family again. Ebony's gonna think I kidnapped her baby.” I say, looking at the baby sleeping peaceful in my arms.

“She must have known you could handle yourself if she slept through that whole thing.” We both laugh.

“You good?” I ask.

“Yeah, I'm ready.” Luke says standing and extending his hand to me. When we get back downstairs it's more of a somber mood. Jose scowls at us while holding ice on his nose.

“Are you all okay?” Juanita asks.

“Yeah, we’re all fine.” I say looking down to Jasmine and up to Luke. Ebony comes over to take Jasmine from my arms. “I'm really sorry.” I say.

She looks me in the eye and says “You didn’t do anything wrong. Thanks for keeping her safe. I blame Jose for everything that happened.” Ebony finishes, glaring at Jose.

“Let's go eat!” Juanita declares.

All the food is set up on the kitchen counter and Luke says. “Go sit down, I'll bring it to you.”

“You sure?”

Luke rolls his eyes and says, “Yeah, I'm sure.”

Ebony is in the dining room nursing Jasmine. “Well that was intense.” She says.

“You’re telling me.”

“I always knew Jose turned into kind of a sleaze when he was high, but I never expected him to try something.”

“There wasn’t any touching, thank God, otherwise I don’t know if he’d be up off the floor yet. He just had some really rude, suggestive things to say.”

“Wow! I didn’t know Luke had that in him. He’s always been so mild mannered and easy going, even when he came back home for good and everyone had said he changed, I never saw it.”

Matt shows up in the doorway carrying a plate, dropping food along the way. I jump up. “Matt, sweetie, can I help you?” he nods and I grab the plate, taking it to the table.

“Where is your Daddy?” Ebony questions, closing her eyes. Matt shrugs. I lift him into his booster seat.

“I'll go see if Luis needs help.”

“Thank you.” She says.

I'm laying in bed close to midnight. I'm having trouble falling asleep. I see my door open and Luke slips in. “What are you doing here?” I whisper.

“I was feeling restless and I wanted to be with you.” Luke says, walking toward the bed. “is that okay?”

“Of course. I was feeling restless too, but I didn’t want to chance your creaky door.”

Luke drops his pajama pants to the floor and I can’t help but admire. He climbs into bed and puts his arm around my waist. “so, you gonna tell me what my sleazy cousin said to you?” he asks, starting to rub my lower back.

I roll my eyes and say “He started off by telling me all about how he knew that I wanted babies like sweet little Jasmine and how he was just the man to give them to me.”

“Do you?” Luke asks, hand slipping beneath my shirt.

“Do I what? Want to have his babies?” I look at him, face twisted.

“No!” Luke says. “Want to have babies, have a family?”

“I didn’t think I wanted to for years. I've got a godson that I get to spoil. Lately though, a vision has started to form in my head on what my kids might look like.”

“What do they look like?” Luke asks, pulling me closer. I debate how I want to answer this question. Obviously, they're his babies I want to have. “You were really good with those guys today. Does your vision kid look anything like them?”

“Maybe a little.” I answer cryptically. “How about you, Luke? Do you want babies?” the circles his hand is making on my back are getting bigger, he's starting to ruck up my shirt in the front, creating a patch of exposed skin between my tank and my shorts.

“I think I do someday. If you had asked me 2 years ago, I would have said no, absolutely not. I was a mess. Now though, I feel like I’ve got my life back and I'm ready to live it. I enjoy my little cousins, they’re a lot of fun.”

“I could tell you had fun with them. Do you have a vision of what your kids will look like?” I ask.

“I'm not sure that I’m ready to unveil my vision yet.”

“No fair, I answered your question.” I huff.

“No you didn’t, not that one.”

“Fine!” I roll my eyes. “Do you see your kids looking like your cousins?”

“Nope.” Luke answers.

I wait for him to elaborate, when he doesn’t, I ask “What’s different?”

“I'm not ready to answer that yet.”

We lay in silence for a while, my face buried in Luke’s bare chest and I'm breathing in his scent. Between him rubbing the bare skin of my back and being surrounded by his scent I’m getting worked up instead of being calmed down.

“What else did he say to you?”

I'm glad that my face is buried in his chest right now so that I don’t have to say this to his face. “He said that you’re a virgin.” Luke's hand stills on my back and his body stiffens. “You okay?” I ask, looking up towards his face. He doesn’t answer and just continues to lay there. I pull back further and look at his face. “Are you?” I ask quietly. I don’t get an answer, so I bury my head back in his chest and bring my hand up to the back of his hair.

I'm relaxed and am lightly dozing when I hear Luke’s voice. “I'm not. But I almost wish I was. My first and only time was a one-night stand during my first year in the Army, I was overseas and the guys kept giving me a hard time for being a virgin. It was awkward and embarrassing.”

“That’s usually how first times are. It's usually different if you love the person too.”

“Have you ever been in love Penelope?” Luke asks.

“I thought I loved Shane, but I don’t think he ever loved me. I think it's my pattern, falling for men who don’t feel the same.” I conclude, thinking about Luke.

“I've never really been in a relationship other than the usual dating for a couple weeks in high school. I'm not sure if I would be any good at it. I don’t know what love feels like.”

“I think you would be amazing at loving someone. You’re so considerate and accepting. Loving someone, I think is all consuming, you want to spend every moment you can with them. You care about and remember the little things about them. You go above and beyond to make sure they’re safe and taken care of.” I kiss his chest and say “you've still got time.” I scoot closer and tangle my legs with his. “everything happens when it's meant to happen, the universe has a plan.”

Luke hums in acknowledgement and returns to running his hand up and down my back.

I wake the next morning and it's still dark out. Luke is breathing deeply and I think he's sleeping. I lay there and think about our talk last night; Luke wants to have kids, but not ones that look like him with dark hair and eyes or caramel colored skin. Try not to think too much about it, just because he doesn’t want them to look like him, doesn’t mean he wants them to look like you. I'm sure he didn’t want to share his vision, because he doesn’t want to hurt your feelings.

“What are you thinking so hard about at 4:30 in the morning?”

“Nothing” I say, Luke scoots in closer to me and his erection pokes me in my exposed stomach.

“I'm sorry.” He says, rushing to back away.

“It's fine.” I say, pulling him back in closer to me. “It happens sometimes when you just wake up, right?” Luke continues to seem uncomfortable. “I’m okay with it, I promise. But if you want to go back to your room you can.” I tell him.

“No, I want to stay with you.”

“Then, relax.”

I start to scratch my fingers up and down his upper arm while his hand runs up my back, between my shoulder blades and back down.

“Were you sleeping?” I ask.

“No, just laying here, enjoying holding you.” I don’t think he realizes that he essentially just told me that is not normal ‘morning wood’ poking my stomach.

I continue on. “Have you slept at all?”

“I think I dozed off a couple times for a few minutes.”

“Do you need my magic fingers?” I ask, scooting up to eye level with him and slipping my arm under his neck, running my fingers through his hair. He closes his eyes and rests his forehead against mine. My other hand wraps around his back and I hold him tight. “Just relax and sleep. I got you.” I whisper. His hand running up and down my back slows and eventually stills. I still and go back to sleep once I'm sure he's out.

I'm ripped out of my sleep by a full body jerk by Luke, he starts screaming “No, get them out of here. Get them to safety. No!”

“Hey, Luke, it's okay, it's not real.”

He continues to cry “No.”

“Luke, sweetie, wake up.” I stroke the side of his face. I'm propped on my elbow looking down at him, he finally blinks his eyes open and looks up at me.

The door opens and Luke’s mom says “What’s all the commotion in here? And what are you doing in here Luke? I thought I told…”

I cut her off saying “Just a nightmare. Can you please give us a few minutes?”

She opens her mouth like she's about to say something else. “Please?” I plead.

“Alright, but believe me, we will be talking about this.” I nod.

Once she shuts the door I lay back down and continue to stroke the side of his face, he holds me tight and takes some deep breaths.

“I'm sorry.” He mumbles.

“Remember? You don’t need to apologize, you have no control over it.”

“I know. I'm just sorry I got you into all this- worrying about my sleep, ruining yours. I was never meant to expose this weak side of myself to anyone.”

“First of all, you’re not weak! Just get that out of your head right now. You've experienced severe and repeated trauma that others can only imagine, your brain is dealing and processing the best it can. You’re doing amazingly well, all things considered. And second, you didn’t get me into this. I kind of weaseled myself into this with my pushiness. I'm here, you’re not going to scare me away. My sleep cycle will adjust, it already is.”

“Thank you!” Luke says, kissing my forehead, nuzzling his head into my neck and pulling me closer so that our bodies are completely pressed together.

We lay together for about 15 minutes, before Luke says, “I guess we should go face my mother.” his breath tickling my neck.

“Yeah, just 5 more minutes?” I ask.

5 more minutes passed by too quickly and we’re climbing out of bed. Luke puts his pajama pants back on and I throw a t-shirt on over my tank top and we head downstairs. Maria is sitting at the kitchen table. Luke grabs 2 mugs and gets us coffee while I sit down, says good morning to Mrs. Alvez. Luke comes over, puts both mugs on the table and sits next to me. “Sorry I woke you up Ma.” Luke starts in a low voice.

“What was all that? I thought you would have gotten over all that by now.” Maria says.

“You don’t just ‘get over’ PTSD in 2 years Ma. It’s a lifelong struggle.”

“Well, your father sure got over it, maybe because I wasn’t coddling him.”

“You know what I remember Ma? I remember seeing Pop sitting in that chair when I went to bed and seeing him still sitting there when I got up in the morning. I remember sometimes while you were out, swearing that I heard crying coming from your bedroom. I remember slowly watching the joy and laughter dim from Pop's eyes over the years. So, I don’t think he ‘got over' it, I think he found ways to avoid and hide.”

“Don’t you dare be spreading those vicious lies around and tarnishing your dad's memory.” She counters. “Your dad was fine. You’re just weak.”

At that comment, I can’t sit back and just listen anymore. “Luke is not weak! A weak man doesn’t serve his country for over 10 years, a weak man doesn’t become a Ranger. You would have some scars too if you went through what he has, not all scars are physical.”

Luke’s mom harrumphs and crosses her arms.

“Look, Ma, it's fine. We're leaving today. We'll make sure we won’t stay here the next time we come to visit, okay?”

“You’re damn right you won’t be staying here the next time. I specifically told you ‘no funny business’ and you two think you can get away with it right across the hall from me.”

“We weren’t doing anything Ma, I promise. I was just spending some extra time with Penelope before I leave this week.”

“Didn’t look innocent, you two were barely wearing any clothes.”

“I don’t think we're gonna get anywhere here. Nothing I do or say is ever going to make you happy, so I don’t know why I continue to try. We're just gonna pack up and head out.” Luke says standing from his seat.

“I'll just feed Roxy, I'll be up in a few.” I say to Luke.

I walk to the fridge to get Roxy's food, taking the lid off. “I'm sorry it had to end like this. I wish you could see even a sliver of what I see in your son.” I bend to put Roxy’s food down. “He's probably going to leave here and it will likely be a very long time before I can convince him to come back and visit or he may not even come back from his mission. Do you really want this to be the last discussion you may ever have with your son? Thank you for having us.” I nod, walking out of the kitchen.

I change my clothes and pack up my bag. I go upstairs to Luke’s room. His bag is packed and sitting on his bed. There’s also an open box sitting on his bed. I walk over to look in the box. It’s half full of drawings and trophies. Luke is carefully removing the photos and postcards from his travels still taped to his wall.

“Are you not planning on coming back?” I ask, stepping beside him.

“Probably not. I think it’s best for the both of us that way. Hey, do you mind if we stop by Grandma’s house before we leave?”

“Definitely!” I answer.

Luke carries both our bags and the box out and loads them in the car. I gather Roxy’s empty dishes and pack them back in the cooler. Mrs. Alvez doesn’t say goodbye, in fact we don’t see her again, before we leave.

Everything’s loaded and we’re in the car, Luke puts his hand on the gearshift and I reach over, putting my hand on his. “You gonna be okay?”

“Yeah, I’ll be okay, just sorry about how everything went down.” Luke answers.

We arrive at Juanita’s a short time later. She’s saddened to hear about what happened with Luke’s mom “I told her this would happen. I told her she was going to run you away and you wasn’t gonna come back.”

“I’m sorry Grandma.” Luke says ducking his head.

“Sorry about what?”

“Sorry that I let her get to me to the point that I decided not to come back. You know, I don’t see you often enough as it is.”

“You did good Luke. I support you walking away, no one should treat you like that not even your own family, especially not your mother.”

“Yeah.” I second, putting my hand on top of his. “We’ll just have to fly Ms. Ramos down to Virginia to visit.” I smile.

“I’d like that dear.”

We stay and visit for a few hours, exchanging phone numbers and promising to see each other soon. We’re on the road heading back later than we planned. At least Luke has a smile back on his face. Juanita insisted on packing us food for the road, so at least we don’t have to stop for too long along the way. Roxy’s a pretty tired girl, she sleeps most of the ride, I think the kids really wore her out. We get in at almost 11 and there’s no discussion about if I’m spending the night. I throw my clothes from my bag in the washer, so that I have something to wear tomorrow. I putz around for a while, waiting for the washer to stop, stifling a yawn every few minutes.

“Just go to bed.” Luke says to me, looking up from his tablet.

“I’m waiting for the washer to finish, so I can get my stuff in the dryer. I’ll be okay.”

“Just go to bed. I’ll take care of it when it finishes.”

“You don’t have to.”

“Penelope, I thought we were past this.” Luke says to me, raising his eyebrow.

“You’re right.” I say, with an eye roll. “You’ll come join me in bed when you’re done?”

“There’s no place else I’d rather be.”

“Thank you, Luke.” I say, standing up.

With my clothes in the washer, I’m limited on options to wear to bed. I don’t want to wear the sundress I wore today to bed, so I go in Luke’s closet and put on one of his shirts. I remove my makeup and brush my teeth before climbing into bed. It’s sometime later and I feel Luke climb into bed behind me, kissing my shoulder and wrapping his arm around my waist. I’m asleep again before I fully wake.

“Penelope.”

“What?’ I mumble with probably too much attitude.

“It’s time to get up.”

“No, it’s not. I just went to bed and it’s still dark.”

“I know it’s early and you probably haven’t gotten enough sleep. It’s 4, isn’t this the day you have to go in early to get the baking done?”

“Screw the baking.”

Luke chuckles. “I know you don’t mean that”.

“I do, I really do.”

“What can I do for you?” He asks, running his fingers up and down my back. “I can make you breakfast or coffee.”

“No, I don’t want any of that.”

Luke gently pulls on my shoulder so that I’m laying on my back. I glare at him.

“Come here.” He says, grabbing my opposite arm, indicating he wants me to roll over. I comply. He cuddles up next to me and says “I’m sorry I got us back so late. I completely forgot you had to get up early today.”

“It’s fine” I say, snuggling into his neck. “I enjoyed spending time with your Grandma. I guess I’ll go home and make it an early night tonight.”

“You’re not gonna stay with me until I leave? Not that you have to, I guess you have a life.”

“Did you want me to?” I ask.

“I was hoping you would, but it’s fine if you don’t want to.”

“Of course I want to, I just didn’t want to overstay my welcome. I have been here since Friday, well not here, but with you. I didn’t know if you wanted some space, especially with you leaving this week.”

“I always want you here with me. I want to spend as much time with you as I can before I leave.” Luke chuckles. “Haven’t you noticed how clingy I’ve been?”

“Well I wasn’t going to say anything.” I laugh. “Just kidding. I want to spend as much time with you as I can too.”

“Perfect. I’ll come help you this morning. But I do need to go into work for a few hours. You ready to get up yet?”

“I suppose.” I huff.

I sit up and swing my legs over the bed. My clothes are all sitting on the nightstand nicely folded, including my panties and bras. “Thank you, Luke.” I breathe out. I can’t believe he stayed up and waited for the dryer, well I guess I can believe that, the man does not like to sleep. But he folded it all, he could have left it in the dryer, shoved it back in my weekend bag or left it in a hamper, instead he folded it all up and left it, where he knew I would need it. I almost start crying. 

“You’re welcome.” Luke says, eyeing me strangely. “Go get showered, I’ll make us some coffee.” He says.

Once showered and dressed, I head downstairs. Luke is dressed in basketball shorts and a t shirt. He’s wearing a baseball cap and typing on his laptop.

“Already working on your disguises for your undercover mission, huh?” I say, tapping the brim of his cap.

“Oh.” He laughs, “yeah, I didn’t have time to do my hair this morning, Its getting kinda long.” He says, shutting his laptop and standing. “Here’s your coffee.” He says, sliding a mug across the counter. “I can put it in a travel mug if you want.”

“This is fine.” I say, taking a sip. “thanks.”

“Yeah, no problem. Ready?”

Luke helps me to get the baking done and heads out during the early rush, coffee in hand. I take an hour lunch and head home, packing up some clothes and things I may need. Closing time can not come soon enough, I’m so tired. I grab my bag and lock up, heading around the corner to Luke’s house. I walk into the house and it smells amazing. I follow the scent to the kitchen where I see Luke taking a pan out of the oven.

“Hi. You’ve been busy.” I say.

“I have. Sit down, dinner is almost ready.”

I sit down saying. “A girl could get used to this.” As Luke brings the food to the table.

“You should.” Luke says, softly, almost to himself. “I made tacos and sweet potato fries, help yourself.”

“It looks so good.” I say, surveying the table when I notice a white rose, surrounded by 3 yellow tulips in a vase, sitting amongst the food. There’s a ribbon tied around the stems and a small card with my name written on it. I open the card and it says – Sorry for being the bad guy and waking you up so early. Love, Luke. “That was sweet, Luke. You didn’t have to.”

“I know.” Luke says, matter-of-factly, with a shrug.

We eat the delicious dinner that Luke made and he receives many compliments. We’re just sitting at the table, having a beer and talking now.

“So, have you figured out when you leave yet?”

“Yeah, probably Thursday evening.” Luke looks down and starts picking at the label of his beer bottle. “I don’t know if you know this or not, but I won’t have my cell phone with me, I won’t be able to communicate with you.”

“I kind of figured, but I’d hoped that wasn’t the case.”

“I gave Phil your number today and I’ll give you his before I leave. I’ll be checking in with him periodically, so he’ll be able to give you some information. I’ll give you the Bureau’s number too. I put you down as an emergency contact today, so if anything happens, they’ll contact you.” Luke finishes, looking up at me. This is starting to get very real. This won’t be like when he disappears for a week and we still text every day. This is him going away and not knowing anything. Luke must see the panic in my face. He reaches a hand across the table and puts it on mine. “I will do everything in my power to come back to you, safely.”

“I know you will.” I nod, turning my hand over and holding his.

“I have my normal dog walkers coming, but will you just stop by every once in a while and hang out with Roxy?”

“I would love to.” 

“Figuring out Roxy’s food will be the tricky part, I guess tomorrow I’ll look into a raw dog food delivery service.”

“That’s a thing?”

“Yeah, It is.” Luke chuckles. “Usually I just pay Sammy, one of my dog walkers to put her food together if I’m gone longer than a week.”

“I can maybe do it for her.” I shrug.

“You don’t have to. I know it makes you uncomfortable. I’ll probably just need you to stop by in the morning or the evening to put her food out. Jackie usually comes by in the morning and Sammy comes in the evening, I’ll leave their schedules. I’m sorry this puts so much on you, you didn’t sign up to be a dog owner.” He says, ducking his head.

“I can totally stop by. I don’t mind at all.” I smile at him, saying “I knew you had a kid when I met you.”

Luke smirks, “Yeah, I guess Roxy is like my baby. You’ve had a long day.” Luke says , looking over at me. “We should get to bed.”

“Wow, Luke Alvez, willingly going to bed.”

“I’ll willingly go anywhere you are.” Luke smiles. We hold eye contact for a while.

“I’ll help you do the dishes quick, first.”

“It’s fine. I’ll wash them tomorrow morning after you go to work. Come on.” He says, extending his hand.

I stand up and take his hand, going upstairs to get ready for bed. I’ve gone through my bedtime routine and am laying in bed on my side, waiting for Luke. I hear the door open and Luke walks around the bed, climbing in and pulling me close. I’m almost certain he didn’t sleep at all last night, between waiting up for my laundry to dry and waking me up so early. My hand immediately goes to his hair. Luke closes his eyes and says, “You’re getting me too used to sleep. I won’t be getting much of it, undercover.”

“I’ll be here when you get back. We can spend a few days in bed, catching up.”

“I like the sound of that!” Luke chuckles, squeezing my hip. His hand leaves my hip and travels to my back, holding me closer. He nuzzles his face into my neck, making it harder to run my fingers through his hair. I settle for running my fingers through the back of his hair.

He kisses my neck and says “I’m gonna miss this, while I’m gone.” Punctuating his statement with another kiss to my neck.

“I am too.”

“You know I’ve never been a cuddler, I’ve looked at other people and think, why? Now I can definitely see the appeal” He says, pulls me even closer so that we are completely pressed together, our legs tangled. His hand rubs at my back, working itself under my shirt to my bare skin. “I have to make it back.” He says, quietly.

“You better!” I say, just as quietly.

Luke kisses my neck again and says “Goodnight.”

Kissing my neck is definitely a new thing, I’m gonna need some time to calm down before I can go to sleep myself.

I wake to my name being called and Luke dropping kisses to my neck. He’s running his hand along my upper arm, shoulder and neck and there is definitely something poking into my stomach.

I compose myself enough to stutter out. “Morning. What time is it?”

“5:15.” He mumbles into my neck.

“Okay.” I breathe out. I’m enjoying the path of his hand as well as the kisses he drops on my neck every now and again. Eventually I have to ask. “What exactly is happening here?”

“I don’t know, am I making you uncomfortable?” Luke pulls back a little.

“No.” I say, laying my hand on his shoulder. “I guess I just want to make sure this isn’t some attempt at…I don’t know.” I say, ducking my head.

Luke pulls back further, his hand stills and he tries to catch my eye. “What is it Penelope? Talk to me?” he pleads.

I roll to my back, putting more space between us, and look up at the ceiling. I chance a look at Luke, he’s propped on his elbow, looking at me. “I guess I just want to make sure that things aren’t happening out of some stress response to going undercover for a while. I want to make sure we’re not going to do something you’re gonna regret.”

Luke scoots closer to me, he throws one of his legs over mine and puts his arm over my stomach, his hand resting on my hip. “I’m sorry, I did this all wrong.” He starts. “I never wanted you to think that this was just a quick…thing.” Luke takes a deep breath and continues. “I think, I love you, Penelope.” I look over at him and blink. “Remember when we were at my mom’s house and you were telling me what love feels like?” I nod. “I realized, that’s exactly how I feel about you. I’m sorry, I didn’t say anything sooner. I thought maybe you just knew.”

“Oh” Is all I can say. Luke laughs at me.

“I should let you get up so you can open the shop on time. Talk later?” Luke says, kissing my cheek, starting to roll away. I catch his arm before he gets too far.

“I love you too, Luke.” Luke beams at me, then bends down to kiss me on the lips. We don’t get out of bed right away. I finally roll out of bed less than 15 minutes before I need to open the shop. I take a quick shower and put my hair up for the day, Luckily. It’s a quick walk over there.

I leave work a little early. It was a bit of a slower Wednesday, The rain moved in mid morning and did not let up at all. I grab my umbrella and am pretty soaked by the time I make it to Luke’s house. I hear voices in the living room, but head upstairs to change into dry clothes before going to see who it is. I walk to the living room and see Luke sitting there with a dark skinned black guy. They each have laptops in front of them, Luke’s tablet is sitting in the middle of the table. There are manila folders opened up with photos and documents strewn about.

“Hi.” I say, hovering in the doorway. Luke shuts his computer and rushes to put all the papers away.

“You’re home early.” He says.

I stay in the doorway, because I’m sure I don’t want to see whatever is in those folders. Luke finishes obscuring the papers and comes over to give me a kiss, leading me into the living room.

“Yeah, the rain put a damper on business.” I shrug.

“Penelope, this is Phil. Phil, this is Penelope.” Luke introduces.

“Ah, you’re the magical woman who got him interested in the opposite sex.” Phil laughs, extending his hand to me. We shake.

“Shut up, man.” Luke says, shoving Phil on the shoulder.

“Looks like you still have work to get done. I’ll leave you two to finish.”

“We can finish tomorrow, you don’t have to go.” Luke says.

I put my hand in his forearm and say. “You two are already set up here and now. I’ll just go upstairs and occupy myself for a while. You guys finish up. I want you to be as safe as you can on your mission, so finish studying.” I say, with a smile.

“Okay” Luke says. “I’ll come get you when we’re done.”

“Perfect!” I say to him. I raise my voice and say to Phil. “It was nice to meet you, Phil. I’m sure we’ll talk.” 

Luke gives me one more kiss before going to sit back down on the chair. I go upstairs to the guest room, pulling out my book. I snuggle under the covers to read and end up falling asleep.

I flutter my eyes open because I think I hear my name being called. I open my eyes and see Luke sitting on the edge of the bed, his hand is on my hip and I can feel his thumb moving over my hip bone.

“All done?”

“Yeah, I’m all ready.” The rain has let up, do you want to go out to dinner? Or we can order in.”

“Going out sounds nice. Give me a few minutes to wake up. Then I’ll get ready.”

“Okay, no rush. I’ll just take Roxy out for a walk.” Luke ducks his head and quietly says. “I love you.” Before making a move to get up.

I grab his arm before he moves too far, he looks back at me and I say, “I love you too, Luke.” He smiles and leans down to kiss me, I put my hand on the back of his neck and deepen the kiss.

Eventually, I make it out of bed. Making out with Luke was definitely a nice way to wake up. I’ve changed, freed my hair from it’s ponytail and have put on a little make up by the time Luke and Roxy get back from their walk. Luke walks up to me as soon as they walk in, wrapping his arm around my waist, “you look beautiful.” He says. “Ready?”

“Thank you. Yes.”

We decide to try a new place in the neighborhood, that has a really good vegetarian menu. I badger Luke until he tries some of my food, and he actually grudgingly admitted that it was pretty good, for vegetarian. We sit on the couch, talking logistics until bedtime. Luke gives me the phone numbers I need, walks me through the security system, shows me the dog walker schedule. He assures me that I’m allowed over as often as I want while he’s gone. Before going up to bed he walks over to the American flag painting on his wall, he pulls a book off the bookshelf, swipes it in front and it opens. I do a double take.

“What’s this Luke?” I question, moving closer.

“My safe. My important stuff is in here, my will, some other important papers, a stash of cash, some bonds that can be cashed in, a new burner phone and a gun and ammo.”

“Why are you showing me this?”

“Because I need you to know where to find my will, just in case.”

“I don’t want to talk about ‘just in case’”

“I know you don’t want to and I’m sorry. I don’t want to scare you, but you need to know.”

“Okay.” I nod.

He pulls out a manila envelope and walks me through its contents.

We finally make it to bed and we pick up right where we left off earlier. I’m laying on my back and Luke’s body is halfway covering mine, while he’s propped on his elbows, kissing me deeply. I can feel how aroused he is, the evidence twitching against my thigh. I’m running my hand up and down his back, getting a little braver and dipping my hand under the waistband of his underwear. His hand runs the length of my side, from my thigh, to my hip, to my stomach, occasionally grazing the side of my breast. I’m now kissing Luke’s neck and Luke pulls back, saying “I don’t know how far you want this to go. If you don’t want to make love before I leave for my mission, we should probably stop this, pretty soon. Whatever decision you make I’ll be okay with.” He say’s looking me in the eye.

“I want you, Luke!” I say, diving back into kissing his neck.

“Oh, thank god.” Luke mumbles.

I laugh into his neck. I lose my shirt soon after. My first orgasm rips through my body just off the attention that Luke lavishes on my breast, god this man has a masterful tongue. I spend some time with a physical inspection, to see what exactly Luke is working with, and let me tell you, it is impressive. We continue to thoroughly explore each other’s bodies. The night culminates with both of us panting and shaking. Luke collapses on top of me momentarily, before rolling off to the side, taking me with him.

“That was amazing.” I pant out.

“It was!” Luke pants, pulling me close to him.

We kiss for some minutes longer before drifting off to sleep.

The next morning, I wake just as the sun is starting to rise. I really should get up and get ready for work, but Luke is still sleeping. I purposefully overstaffed the café today because I didn’t know what kind of state I would be in. So, I can lay here and let him sleep, it’s not like I want to leave him just yet anyway. I start to think back to last night. It was no exaggeration to say that he was amazing, I would not have guessed that he had really no experience if he hadn’t have told me. He knew how to use every part of his body. I’m drifting off again when Luke jerks awake. I open my eyes and Luke is looking at me with wide eyed panic.

“It’s okay, Luke.” I sooth, stroking up and down his arm. “You’re safe, you’re at home.” He blinks and takes a deep breath, relaxing a little. “Do you want to talk about it?” He shakes his head minutely. He buries his head in the crook of my neck and I hold him tight. I lay there holding him for about 10 minutes before he relaxes.

“What time is it?” I feel mumbled into my neck.

“6:15.”

Luke pops his head up. “You’re late for work. I’m sorry for keeping you here.”

“I’m right where I need to be. I overstaffed the shop today, so it’s fine if I go in whenever.” I wave him off.

He lays back down on his back and takes a deep breath. “I’m sure this isn’t how you hoped to spend our last morning together, comforting me after a nightmare.”

“As long as you’re here.” I start, laying my head on his shoulder. “I don’t really care how we spend it.” Luke puts his arm around me and kisses my forehead. “So, are you all set?”

“Mostly. I need to stop at the store and get a few things. I’ll stop by Quantico and pick up my undercover car.”

“I’m coming with you.”

“You don’t have to.”

“I want to. I’m not leaving your side until you leave tonight.”

“Do you need to stop in at work at all?”

“No, I’ll call Jordan at some point this morning to check in. What time do you want to go get those things done?”

“Late morning, we’ve got some time, if you want to get some more sleep.”

“Oh, I wasn’t thinking about more sleep.” I say, lifting my head from his chest and looking him in the eye.

“Oh, really? Well what did you have in mind?”

_________________________________________________________

“Let me show you.” I say, straddling his hips. Luke’s hand immediately goes to my ass, as I bend down to kiss him. We stay like that, kissing and touching. I grind into his lap, his hard member, hitting me in just the right spot, causing me to moan. Luke lifts me up and lines himself up, I sink down and we both let out sounds of appreciation. I ride him, while one of his hands work my breasts and the other my clit. I’m coming in no time. Luke flips us over and he takes control, hitting just the right angle inside. I can feel another orgasm building. Luke kisses and sucks on my neck, moving to nibbling on my ear and I’m gone, moaning and clenching around him. His thrusts become erratic and he starts pulsing inside me within a couple minutes. We kiss as we both come down.

Luke rolls to the side and says. “I think we could both use a shower. We’re both a sticky mess.”

“I know” I pant, “just give me a few minutes to get feeling back in my legs.” Luke laughs. 

We lay, cuddled together for a few minutes before Luke says “I’m gonna go shower.” He rolls off the bed and stands. I can’t help but admire his toned ass and chest, I also notice that he’s half hard again. He goes in the bathroom and I hear the shower turn on and decide to join.

I step into the shower with him. After Luke finishes washing himself, he starts washing me. He takes his time soaping my breasts and continues to work his way down, he drops to his knees and spend substantial time on my clit and my folds, going so far as to use his mouth to ensure a good clean. Once I have been taken care of, to his standards, he stands again.

Once standing, I grab a hold of him, now fully hard and leaking. Pumping him and slicking his head. One hand, travels to his balls and I work them for a while as well. Luke is standing against the wall of the shower, head thrown back. I work him with my hands for a while before finishing him off with my mouth.

____________________________________________________

We stand under the water in an embrace, before finally deciding to exit the shower. Luke hands me a towel before taking one for himself and drying off. We get dressed and go downstairs. Luke gets Roxy’s food ready, while I make breakfast for us. We sit at the island to eat our breakfast and Luke keeps his left arm wrapped around my back, hand resting on my hip, holding me close. We clean up the kitchen and head out to the store.

Luke picks up some more casual clothes and some new tennis shoes and boots as well as a new fall jacket. I convince him to get this one pair of jeans that make his ass look delicious. On second thought, I decide he shouldn’t take those pants with him, I don’t want anyone he comes across on his mission looking at my man like that. He only laughs when I tell him as much.

We’re at Quantico, Luke has shown his badge and I’ve handed over my id, waiting for a visitor’s badge. Badge clipped to my shirt, we walk to the elevators and Luke presses the button. 

The elevator opens and a very serious looking, dark haired man walks out, followed by a very young man with a cane. Luke nods “Hello, SSA Hotchner.”

My eyes grow wide. “Hello Alvez.” Hotchner says, stealing a glance at me. Before narrowing his eyes. I look down, avoiding eye contact and hear JJ calling my name.

“JJ, hi.” I say, giving her a hug.

“What are you doing here?” she asks.

“I just came with Luke, to pick something up.”

“Ah.” She says, looking between us. She smirks, lowers her voice and says “I’m glad you got your man.” Breaking into a smile.

“How did you…?” I ask, flustered.

“Girl’s night, when I get back from this case.” She says, winking at me.

“Okay.” I agree, as she walks away.

Hotchner and Luke finish their conversation and Luke picks up my hand, lacing our fingers. “This is Penelope…”

“Penelope Garcia.” Hotchner says, “I remember.” He pulls out a business card and hands it over. “If you ever want to discuss that job offer, Ms. Garcia, call me.”

I take the card saying. “That was over 10 years ago, sir.”

“It was.” He nods. “But, I saw something in you, you are good, Ms. Garcia, we need more people like you, fighting on our team.”

“In case you didn’t hear.” I say with an edge. “I got probation and with that came computer monitoring, I wasn’t really able to keep my skills sharp.”

“I heard and I have no doubt that for someone as talented as you, your skills would return fully with little practice.” I gape at him. “At least, think about my offer, please.”

“I’ll think about it.” I huff.

“I’ve got to get going to the airstrip. Luke, stay safe. I’ll see you when you get back.”

“Thank you, sir. See you.” Luke says.

JJ, Hotchner and the group all walk away. I tuck Hotchner’s card in my back pocket. Yeah, right. Like I’d ever go to work for the F.B.I.. 

Luke picks out the car he wants and makes sure that the plates an everything don’t track back to the F.B.I., arrangements are made for a plain clothes agent to drop the car off a few blocks from Luke’s house later this afternoon.

We stop at a deli that Luke says, he and Phil frequent. The guy behind the counter knows Luke and his order on sight. Luke introduces me and I place my order. The two talk while our food is prepared, I just watch their interaction with a smile. It’s nice to watch, noticing how everyone is drawn to Luke. He’s so kind, sincere and caring with those he decides are okay to let in.

We’ve gotten our food and are sitting beside each other in a booth.

“You should use my truck while I’m gone.” Luke says, taking another bite of his sandwich.

“Why would I do that? I have a car.”

“You have a rental. Why keep paying for that, when you can use my truck. It’s just going to sit there anyway. I’m sorry we weren’t able to find you a new car before I left.”

“I’m too picky.” I wave him off. “I guess that makes sense, thanks Luke. I’ll keep looking for a new one while you’re gone.”

We finish our lunch and head home. Home, when did Luke’s house become home? I can see a mix of my things that I’ve left lying around. I’m going to miss this.

Luke’s bag is packed and we’re having a light dinner of salad on the patio. Luke suddenly turns serious and nervous. He reaches into his pocket and lays a ring box on the table.

“I got this for you.” He says, opening the box. I put my hands over my mouth and gasp. Breathing Luke’s name. “I know this is probably way to early, we haven’t been dating for long.” He says, looking down. I get up from my seat and walk around the table, sitting myself on his lap. He wraps his arms around me and continues. “This can be an engagement or simply a promise ring if that feels less scary.” He shrugs, tears are now falling from my eyes. “I just want this to be the physical representation that you can look at everyday and know that I am doing everything in my power to come back to you.” Luke removes the ring from the box and holds it out to me. I can only put my hand out and nod, he slips the ring on my finger. I wrap my arms around his neck and hug him with everything I’ve got.

Once I’ve had some time to compose myself, I ask “When did you have time to get a ring?”

“It’s my Grandma’s she gave it to me before we left. I knew that I didn’t want to regret not giving it to you.”

“Wow, it’s beautiful!” I say, looking at the ring closer. “Thank you, Luke.” I kiss him and things get a little out of control. We finally make it to Luke’s room where we make love, slowly. Pouring all the love we have into every movement, every caress, every stroke, every thrust.

“I’m going to miss you so much.” I say, laying on my side, looking into Luke’s eyes.

“I am too. I love you!” Luke says, giving me a kiss.

“I love you, too. Time to go?” I ask.

“Yeah, unfortunately. I’m already a little late.” Luke starts to get up. “I’m gonna go take a quick shower.” He bends down and kisses me again.

While Luke’s in the shower, I sit up and redress. I’m sitting on the edge of the bed when Luke comes out, with a towel wrapped around his waist. “Where are you going?” He asks, walking in the closet. Getting dressed with the door open.

“I was going to walk you out.”

“Why don’t you stay here.” He says, walking back towards me. “You lay down and I’ll tuck you in.” he smiles, he looks down and says. “I don’t want a big goodbye, I might just break down.”

“Okay.” I nod, laying myself down. Luke covers me up and kisses my lips before kissing my forehead. I close my eyes, I hear him close the bedroom door and quietly sob into his pillow.


End file.
